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February 1988

Matchday II: Is this
the best soccer game
ever produced?

Error traps
explained

Win a trip to the
Munich Euro-finals

Speed up your
printing with
Microstuffer

Plus: Driller, Adventure ^
analysis, serious software
clinic and much more

jThe Official Amstrad Home Computing Magazine

Morviav NOK 20.00 Spain 300 Plas Turkey 1650 TL Denmark Hr, SI,00 New Zealand NZ$4.95 fisc.

When pw'i't 1 seen one printer you really
haven't seen them ait. That’s why , when
y tin’re trying to choose your first or your next,
you realty need all the help you can get. Here
area few steps to get you started.

1 Compatibility. You needn't worry
about matching any of our six
9-pin printers with your present system.
A simple slot-in
interface

means

that am

switches for all your usual daily needs.
All our machines have semi-automatic
single sheet feeding too. Simply drop
your page into the top, press a lever.

5 Support. When
you buy a Star
printer you buy superb back up too.
WeVe a National three-level support
system which operates through all our
registered Star dealers backed by the

ments and spread sheets.
They also have very re¬
spectable Near Letter
Quality speeds of 30, 43
and 60 cps for corre¬
spondence and more
important documents. In
either mode. Star’s print
clarity is envied by our
competition.

3 Simplicity. The Front Control
Panel on all Star business printers
gives you total control at the touch of a
button. Selecting draft or Near Letter
Quality' printing, print pitch, margins and
paperfeed control are sheer simplicity.
No mess, no fuss and no more fiddly DIP

Star printer can be used with virtually any
terminal or PC set up. And, equally im¬
portant, the software command sets are
switchable.

SSH

and the printer advances it to the correct
position ready For printing.

Value. Getting more doesn't
mean you have to pay more. All
on r printers are p roof of
that, Whatever ^ frnu]

your budget, the Star
9-pin printers start from V
just £248 for the NL-10 going up
to £589 for the NR-IS.

Performance* Star’s 9-pin range
has a choice of two paper widths,
either 10" or 15" (80 col or 136 col) and
three performance levels
120, 180 and 240 cps for
draft quality listings, state-

b £$89

PRINTERS FOR BUSINESS

Star JVlieroilies U.K. Ltd. Craven E Iouh-l-,

40 Uxbridge Road, Eating, London W5 2BS.
Telephone: 01-840 1800.

A division of Star MicnonicsCo,, Ltd., Japan.

finest distributors in the country, so
you're in good hands. Should you need

If you still can’t quite make ttp your
mind, fill out this coupon. ETV’fJ send
! you ear brochure so you cun discover

l twrt more a ftflii t the remu rkabte Star range of
1 printers for business. Well also tell you about
[ our range of 24-Pin printers too. Or just call

Belinda on 0I-S4O l829-

1 Name

i Company

1 Address_

Postcode

y Telephone

AU2

any help at any time, our dealers will
give you all the friendly, knowledgeable
assistance you need.

COMPETITION

Football

competition

Spot the difference in
our Jet-setting
competition in
conjunction with
Addictive Games.

REGULARS

News

Software without a
name doesn't sell as
sweet. Gary Lineker and
Johnny Ounfries help
promote some games.

Letters

Prime advice and a
compo for those of you
outside Europe.

Adventures

Killed until dead and Yes
Prime Minister represent
joystick-driven adventure
games, while Stationfall
shows that Infocom is
still master of interactive
fiction.

The Hairy
Hackers Haunt

Gardeners' question time.
Vax weeds out the
pokes, and harvests the
hints.

Gallup chart

The official hit parade
brought to you from a
survey of retail shops.

Applications

Advice

Solving a host of Mini
Office problems and
printer puzzles is all In a
page's work for David
Foster.

Kermit is not a frog, as
our tame Amsters
discover.

FEATURES

Matchday II

Wizzo football feuding
from Ocean's star
striker. ACU's view from
the terraces cheers the
champions home.

REVIEWS

Driller

The debut of Freescape
with Incentive's smash
solid 3D hit. Is it worth
all the hype?

Saracen

Off to the crusades with
a graphically poor but
very playable budget
game.

Jack The Nipper II

Jack goes 2D in coconut
capers. Spritey jungle
fun.

ERROR, the safety net
for Basic programmers.

World War II

A military strategy
listing for the CPC 664
and 6128. Practice your
pincer movements.

Assembly Point

Pick up those stix in the
machine code game
where areas need to be
filled.

Editorial gnd Advertising offices:

159 King's Road. Brentwood,

Essex CM 14 4EF

Tat: 0277-234459 (Editon#!);

027? 234434 {Advertising)!

Telecom Gold: ?2;MAG021

Published by Avralite Ltd, Ad ling ion
Park, Adlington, Macclesfield SKIOSNP.

News tr$de distribution: Dinmand-Europress Sales
Si Distribution Ltd, Unit J, Burgess Hood, Jvi tbouse
fane.. Hastings, East Sussex TU35 WR
Tel: 0424 430422.

Editor: Simon Roekman
Assistant: Elaine Rawiing
Advertisement Manager:

Julian Harriott jan-su™ mt

Am si red is a registered trade mark, anti with the
tide Amstrad Compute? Of; ft-, is used with the
permission of Amstrad pic. No part of this
publication he produced without permission
While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy
of at! features and listings i ve cannot accept any
tiabifity for any mistakes or misprints. The views
and opinions expressed are not necessarily those of
Amstrad or Amsnft hut represent ihe views of 00r
many readers, users, and contributors. Material for
puhSicsrion is only accepted Oh an ail-rights basis.
We regret that Ain Sired Computer User cannot
•eflter into personal correspondence.

:'d' Avrafite Ltd 193$

Amstrad User February 1988

Page 3

m ntwhcl wtn mort spies to show
you all that’s now In th%

AmstraO marhitplaoo
-so wo*vo rnovoO to

The Great Hall

Alexandra Palace

Wood Green. London

i r 1

fc!

(

10am - 6pm Thursday,

| February 4

10 am - 6pm Friday s

February 5

10am - 5pm Saturday,

February 6 1

FREE

Presentations in n
“^mstradTheatre /

here!

This is YOUR chance to
try out for yourself the
new Amstrad portable
- the machine the
press is raving about!

^ -'Of,-

oft

t&L, a,,bsr,,

^*5- fl °th .. ^Cfr

th rr! ° f & ,T °^e ,S et e>?

^ 0> ' /j W ^Ux ff he

3r U& ° r b J W ^

f M

It's bo easy to get to the show — by car,
rail, underground gr bliS- AJwwdra
Palace has its own British Rail station r
whisking visitors to And from King’s
Cross in just nine minutes, And there's
a free bus service shuttling between
Station and show every 10 Jnbiutes.

If you're travelling by road the show Is
only IS minutes away from /unction £5
on the JH 25 — and ad car parking is
free-

Cut the queues and
save £1 per head -
with this advance
ticket order form

Advance ticket order

Please supply

□ Ado If tuckels at £2 (save £1 >. £

□ Under ]Ss tickets at £1 (save £L) £

Total £.

□ Cheque enclosed mark* payable to
Database Publications Ltd.

□ P 1 1 f:ufiT^ debit my credit card account

□ Access / Visa

lJ °b

Mi wmm M|

The Gnat Hall

Alexandra Palace, Alexandra Park
Wood Green, London N22
February 4-6

Post to; Amstrad Show tickets,

Europe House, Adlington Park.
Adlington. Macclesfield SK10 SNR

Admission at door:
£3 (adults),

££ (under 16s)

Sd^ancc ticket otden must
he received, by Wednesday.
January Z'l. JSfctf

Name

Address

.Signed.

PHONE ORDERS: Ring Show Hotline: 0325 8799-IP
PRESTEL ORDERS: KEY *39. THEN 6145&B3W
MICROLINK ORDERS? MAILBOX 72:MAC001

Pliritw quote- cr&iii card numb&i and fail address + A 239

Amstrad is ,-i trade mark of Amstrad PLC

RPCW J/Sft (23)

HITHSQFT have produced
theirown version of Lisp, the
lithst processing language
to run under thC/PM. Ith's
bathsed on Corn mo n Uthsp
(OK, enough of that- Ed}, but
"includes many extra func¬
tions from other flavours of
the language.

It costs £49.95 and comes
with a free copy of Tony
Hasemer's Looking at Lisp.
HiSofL is on [0525) 718181-

Firebird

launches

Disco

NO, nothing to do with
Firebird's ex-boss who is
well known in the hottest
night clubs. The boss, Paul
Hibbard (pictured below)., is
an ouppie - that is an older
yuppie. Firebird's new label
is Disc only. Hence Disco,
clever eh? No, we didn't
think so either.

There are eight Amstrad
discs, each with two games
cn them, priced at £6.99.
Unfortunately, with the usual
startling British Telecom
Silver efficiency they have
forgotten to tell u$ what the
games are.

Lineker
takes to
the air

BRITAIN'S number 1 footbal¬
ler, Gary Lineker, has always
been light on his feet, but
just recently he's been
receiving a little mechanical
assistance.

As our picture shows
Gremlin Graphics hired a
BeM Jet Ranger III helicopter
to transfer him from London
to Leicester to promote their
game, Gary Lineker's Super
Star Soccer.

A LAST minute delay to the
renovation work at London's
world famous Alexandra
Palace has forced a date
switch for the next Amstrad
Computer Show.

The show - the eighth in
the series - will now be held
in Ally Rally's Great Hail from

Martech signs on the line

JOHM Forrest Heft! of Elec¬
tronic Arts lEAt has clinched
a deal with David Martin of
Martech which will be of
great importance to our
European readers.

Fron now on all Martech's
games will be distributed to
you through EA, unless you

live in Spain or Britain, The
first of these will be Nigel
Mansell's Grand Prix, a
game which deserves to do
well even if the great man
did miss out on the cham¬
pionship after his accident in
practice before the Japanese
Grand Prix.

February 4 to 6 and not
January 28 to 30 as
previously announced.

Organisers Database Exhi¬
bitions, the computer show
specialists, agreed to
postpone the start of the
three day event after learn¬
ing that the problem lay in
the installation of - a com¬
puter.

The machine in question
has been designed to act as
the nerve centre of the con¬
trol room, monitoring aft
aspects of security, including
fire safety, at Alexandra
Palace.

"As The current renovation
work followed a major fire
back there in 1980,, there was
no way our show could go
ahead until this final stage of
the work had been
completed 11 , said Peter
Brameld, the exhibition's
marketing director.

The Great Hall - setting for
the show - is the heart of
Alexandra Palace. With
almost 7,000 square metres
of completely clear floor
space it has natural diffused
light from the single span
translucent roof.

High technology, creative
design and the most modern
materials blend with trad¬
itional Victorian decor.

The splendid stained glass
rose window, the renovateo
arches and the great Henry
Willis organ, make it the
focal point of the whole
Palace,

It will provide the perfect
setting for what will be the
grandest Amstrad Computer
Show to date' 1 , said Derek
Meakin, managing director
of Database,

THE Gremlins struck the big
screen program in the
January issue. Here are the
corrected tines.

1240 DATA F5,83,CD,35,83,
00,00,00.05,1093 2430 DATA
B 8,D0,3 A r C7 ,C7, A6,07,38, DC,

111E

)ft*

A!r\$ i rad User February 1388

Pegs b

Johnny

Dumfries

endorses

JOHN Colum Crichton -
Stuart Earl of Dumfries - h
more famous for being 3
very good racing driver than
for being titled.

Johnny Dumfries, you r ll
remember, piloted the JPS
Lotus in Formula 1 and is
seen as one of Britain's rising
stars.

Now he has taken the Code
Masters shilling and will be
endorsing the ever-green
Grand Prix Simulator game.

Active at

AS we go into the New Year
it's all go at the Activision
camp,

A quick chat with mar¬
keting manager Amanda
Barry revealed a long list of

releases. Soon we should
see Rampage, a game where
you play a King Kong-like
ape and have to smash down
a city. Based on an arcade
game, it's a bit like CD's
Ramparts-

TV fans will have seen
Knightmare, the ace adven¬
ture game on the box,
Activision is planning to
bring it to your screens.

Next up is Galactic Games,
Designed by Chris Palmer it's
an attempt to revive the
theme started with Track and
Field and now 1 worn pretty
thin. Events include worm
racing and head throwing.

The big film licence is
Predator, the movie starring
Arnold Schwarzenegger
(shown in a scene from the
film below). No details on
what it'll be like fust yet,

Just to confuse you
September is out this
January, Based on the board
game it is bound to be
addictive, A new label for
Activison is Abstract Con¬
cepts, Their first project is an
adventure called Mind-
fighter.

A quick word with Archer
Maclean, the programmer of
International Karate Plus,
explains why it is storming

■

Arnold Schwarzeneggers Predator is coming via Activtston

the C64 charts (other that the
obvious reason that Commo¬
dore 64 owners are a
bloodthirsty, violent bunch).

International Karate Plus
{IK+ to those in the know) is
said to be the most accurate
karate game yet. It has SO
positions for each of the littfe
men and a great pause
mode.

Next month we'll have a
look at Super Hang On, pro¬
grammed by Chris Wood,
author of Solomon's Key
which will soon be out on
Activison's Electric Dreams
label.

Virgin in
the fast
lane

MIN Smith is the author of a
number of interactive books,
some of which have been
turned into computer games.
Now he's got aspirations to
be the next Nelson Piquet.

Virgin Games are spon¬
soring him in the Formula
First series, watch out for
him on GBCZ'sTop Gear.

Anarchy breaks out

NEW out on Hewson's
Rack-It budget label is Anar¬
chy, a tremendously addict¬
ive arcade game which
combines reflexes with
brainpower, It's refreshingly
different and should find its
way into your CPC soon.

Also out from Hewson is a
compilation tape. This fea¬
tures Ranarama, Exoton,
Zynaps and the previously
unreleased Undium plus.

Worth buying for any two
of the four titles. You should
look it up soon.

Salamander coming

THE arcade hit Salamander
from Konami is soon,to hit
the shelves. Delays in pro¬
gramming kept ir from being
exclusively covered in our
pages this month.

Programmer Andrew
Glaister said: "lt‘s been rearfy
difficult. First we had some

power cuts and then the
Compaq 386 PC I was devel¬
oping the game with died -
the hard disc went down,
Should soon be finished
though 1 ',

Amsirad Computer User
expects to have a review
next month.

Probably the best joysticks in the world

The Explosive Joystick

Compelitoie with ZX Spectrum.l6K.48k.l28k +2.
Commodore 64, Vic 20. Amstrad. Atari, etc.

At only £8 95 the features on the 125+are second to none.
Besides ils unique internal structure, built lo withstand
rmmense punishment from even the most vigorous games
player,the joystick contains no less man four extremely
sensitive fire buttons. Two are housed in me handgrip
which has been moulded for extra comfort and ease
at operation. The trigger finger lira button provides
ease and comfort for your finger and the top lire
button is contoured to lit your thumb for sure fire
shodtmg. The base tire buttons are positioned lor exlra
control and two hand Firing whether you are
ught or left handed.

A built in ayto-fire switch provides continuous
Shootmg at the touch of a fire button
Bui II in Speclrum+2 Selector Connector.

The 125 comas complete with a lull 12 months warranty

Prices include VAT poslage S packing Da livery normally H days
Export orders a! no ex Ira cost
Dealer e nqu Iries weltrxmt

Cheerar*. prooucts available frorrf branches ol Oixons

^.I.LL'JiRIt LAfkK WllSMlTHf

Hifih Si Stores and all (jQOCf compels* Shops Mgj

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you deserve
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METAL SHAFT 0AUTO FIRE#

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• Deluxe,robust construction. •Comfortable rugged
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• Highly sensitive light touch MICRO SWITCH fire buttons.

• Ergonomically designed control handle with indestructable
METAL SHAFT • Built in AUTO FIRE function.

Machl+Joy&hck compatible with * Sinclair ZX Spectrum lSK.48K.t28K.+2

• Amslrsd computers * Commodore 64 A VIC 20 Computers

• Alan 2600 4 Atari 52QQ Video Game Systems

• Atari Home Computers

Prices include VAT. posiage £ packing DenvifrY n^nmali* i*days Ex pod G r ders al n-c exlracosl
Dealer enquiries weltome ChiMd'an pmducE-s 3t3< able I^ckt branches or Dixona

^ HxifuJs V.liLlJlil LAlftW WNSM

V i */ CHEETAH Ml AftKETl NG LTD
Nrprbury House , Nortoury Road
Faiiwater, Cardiff CF5 3AS.
Telephone: Cardiff (0222) 555525
Telex; 497455 Fax: £0222) 5SSS27

Compatible with ZX Spectrum +2 • Compatible with ZX Spectrum +2 • Compatible with ZX Spectrum +2

Compatible with ZX Spectrum +2 • Compatible with ZX Spectrum+2 • Compatible with ZX Spectrum +2

- TpeycAR Df THE RDBDT

Q: Ilf HEARD OF THE YEARS OF Tiff CAT, PIG, AND FATA DRAGON -

BIT THF YEAR OF THE ROBOT*

A: Absolutely! And ROMANTIC ROBOT with t« mjike 1MB a. truly memorable vear (if not us, who will?
To kick off with, there is an INTRODUCTORY OFFER OF £29,88 Oh' HOMS, plus a truly unique 1988
MW YEAH MAIL ORDER PRICE OF MULTI FACE TOO ■ £39.881

<?■ / LOVE SALES, RUT WHAVS SO LIKEABLE ABOIT HODOS and 3HULTIFACE?

A; HODUS is Gw powerful and complex to be summed up here - please send a SAE fur full info.

MULTIFACE is (simply) a MUST for ANY CPU owner: it can copy and change programs as yuu

Q: OH. DO I SEED TO DO ANY PROGRAMMING TO MAKE BACK-UPS?

At NO! - NUT with the V| IJLTIFA-CE TWO - it is in fact the ONLY product on the market which works
FULLY AUTOMATICALLY. You LOAD any program as usual, RUN it for as long as you like and when you
wish tu make a copy yon just press the MULTI FACE'S red button and follow Ihe menu and nn-sL reep instructions.

<* HOW DOES ST WGffJt THEY? IS IT EASY? USER-FRIENDLY? ERROR- TRAPPED? IDIOT PROOF? GUARANTEED?

A: YES! Is works a treat and it could not be easier. The menu gives four .basic options - to SAVE a program, to RETURN to continue it, to JUMP (say to your own routines -
invaluable for hackers) and TOOL to access the MULTI-TOOLKIT set of built-in utilities. For example pressing S to SAVE will first allow you to NAME the back-up and theh
lot you save a PROGRAM or just a SCREEN in TAPE or DISK. Before the s aving itself, Ml.'LTTFACE compresses, the program so that it takes the least amount of space on
tap&'disk and will re-l&ad ks quickly as possible. Dnce a program is saved, you can RETURN or JUMP, use the TOOLKIT to change it, SAVE it again, etc.

Q : DOW YOU CORRUPT THE SCREEN WITH YOUR MENU, INSTRUCTIONS, PULL DOWjV WINDOWS, ETC.?

At NO. MULT1FACE TOT) has its own memory {SK ROM & SK RAM) and a lot more hardware - thus when it finishes its job or when you re-load your back-ups, everything is
FULLY and AUTOMATICALLY restored: screen modes, culours, windows, etc. Ihis is essential and NO OTHER DEVICE CAN DO IT!

Q: OK SO MULTIFACE CAN COPY FROM TAPE TO BI5C. BIT CAN IT DO TAPE TP TAPE OR PlSC TO DISC Off DISC ID TAPET

Ar Of wuree it can. MULTI FACE savew either to U|w or disc and it saves whatever happens to be in the computer at that time - mi matter how you loaded it in,

Q: SO FAR SO GOOD. BUT CAW I DO ALL THIS WITHOUT THE MULTIFACE?

A: .ABSOLUTELY NOT! First, you need a- hardware device, a "magic box", to be able to stop and copy programs AT ANY STAGE - be it upon loading, halfway through the game, etc.
Tapfcrdisr: rapiers can only try to copy programs BEFORE they load: If there are unorthodox loaders, speed locks, protections against copying, etc., you'll end up with a problem - but
not with a back-up. Also, with MULT!FACE ymi can poke infinite lives, ammunition, etc. - and then SAVE.

Qi MULTIFACE IS NOT THE ONLY MAGIC BOX' ON THE MARKET - WHY SHOULD I BUY JT MORE THAN ANYTHING FUST?

A: There are lour devices on the market. Action Reply by Date I Electronics, Disc Wizard by Evesham Micros, Mirage Imager and MULTIFACE TWO. Each manufacturer would
naturally argue his product is the best buy - fortunately (for you and us), M1UEGNET recently compared ail four units and MIJLTTFACE TOO came out the best in literally all
respects: the most successful one - 100%!, the ONLY AUTOMATIC ONE. the FASTEST ONE both in [jOADTNG AND SAVING tnne, the one taking the LEAST ROOM when saving
and you slLLI get a couple of EXTRAS: a RESET button and an estansive and unique MULTI-TOOLKIT-

0? MULTIFACE IS IE THE RIGHT THING IN IJIF RIGITT TRUE IF ONLY IT PAID FOR ITSELF.„

A: But It docs! Ry iiie time you luiy 8 programs on tape instead of disc, you will have saved S40- the cost of the MULTIFACE. Tlw money you savin on Jiariher programs Is all yoiirs

PIVLTIFACE F Wurth CVtrf pinny, saves you pounds?

Romantic || \ T “bot [Jisc ||||lperating *
Just one ROM will turn your CPC into a
professional set-up: With RODOS you can
attach additional disc drives - 40/80 track,
single/double sided and storemore than
800k per disc.

fystem

wAtifocrj tvjfj

NEW YEAR
MAILORDER
SALE PRICE
£ 39-88

But RODOS is in fact much more than a fast
and perfect DOS. RODOS also gives you
RANDOM ACCESS, PRINTER BUFFER, full
ROM manager, SILICON DISC, altogether
54 new bar commands, enormous power -
ait this and much more for £29.88 only!

INTRODUCTORY
OFFER-ON ROM
£ 29-88

The special price of
applies, strictly to mail orders
received with the coupon below
I before the 29th February 19M.

Tape lo-dLak at the louch of a button
Ridiculous you may say. bun U works evi-ry
Ume Multifocc can slap any fjtoqtajti m ris
i[.m-ks .iriiJ .idve the program: from memory
to eubet iape ai disk tt s completely foci
f.■ ri.:ul SirtuLat produets have had problems
WLth screen SLze. colour and even sound.
MtiHiface can handle all those wiihuui a
second Ihought

That atone would r.ave satisfied many
people, but Romantic Jtobcl has gene one
step luTther. incorporating .1 memory edi
tiH Ka prOg ran. id sale With I hi:, every
tiling ir, out in the open, tnciudu.q tin- ZW;
reqLnets. CFTC daia and any pa it ol
memory

Don'l be fooJed inio tlutLkmq this -will
fH.-sull in mass pitaey. however The fcjulli ■
/at e unit 11 sell! musl be plugged into your
Amsit.-id no 9 1 low to loading of a program it
saved

Multiiace 8 rmijc bo the clever esl hard¬
ware device ai present I necesaily for
disk owners who thought they were sttack
with loading from I ape every time

AMSTRAD At MON lANL ARY 19K7

THE YEAR Df THE RDBDT BE PART Df H

t order MULTIFACE 2 t£39.88)[_l/ RODOS (£29,88)U p lus p&p UK£1, E urope £2, Overseas £3

1 enclose a cheque PO for .or debit my E33E No! \ Card exp.

Name & address

V * r J is Hayland Close London NW9 OLH 24 hrs

LETTERS

Lance "Letters" Davis sorts your missives - and
answers the need for a long-term competition

HI, two liVol tbangs here. One of which is the
answer to a query and the other a complaint i,l
usually keep my complaints to myself, but I'm
feeling generous today).

The query was from Decanniere Klass, in the
November issue who asked about an apparent
bug in Basic, The answer is that the line con¬
taining else is never acted on because ELSE s
expecting the result of a condition to be TRUE
H) or FALSE fOJ.

As there is no condition, the answer will always
be TRUE and so the ELSE will not branch. Try the
program without line 60 and you will see that the
result is the same as with the else inserted.

As to the complaint I have noticed over the last
few years that, particularly in assembler listings,
there are often sections where the cut and paste
facility has gone haywire. Breakout is a typical
case in point, as is the WIMP listing in the
November issue.

My Maxam assembler does not like duplicated
labels using the EQU directive, and. there are
quite a few bits like this in the listings. In the
Wimp fisting there are a large number of
unnecessary calls to invert bar,

Finally, \ would like to congratulate you on the
new look, It's quite effective and looks more
relaxed than the old one. Any chance of some
articles on SOUND programming horn either M/C
or Basic?

Mike Lyons,
Herts

LD: You were one of many who pointed out the
error of Mr Klass's ways. Yes, we have had some
trouble with program listings, but having learnt
the (syntax! error of our ways we will try ro
explain to the typesetting machine that it should
not do things twice - however much it likes Z80
code.

Thanks for the sound suggestion, HI bring it up
at the next editorial meeting. Well all forget
about it and then the editor will mention sound
articles and claim it was all his idea.

Actually I've a sneaking suspicion that there is
a sound article being worked on right now.

Pinta power

I HAVE some small tips for the MAD. game
"Milk Race" (which*! incidentally managed to
complete).

1 ! On hills going down keep in gear 12.

2! On hills going up change from gears 6-7
depending on the ratio- of the hill,

3) On straight surfaces change between gears
10 - 12 .

4: You cannot collect milk while moving up and
down so therefore whenever you pass g milk
bottle STAY STILL[

51 Try not to keep in groups of cyclists, You could

Amstrad User February 1988

get squashed by them on hills.

6 ) Try to keep in the middle of the road so that
you are ready for passing milk bottles on BOTH
sides of the road.

7) If you set tense and neivous on the last few
laps, then relax and shake your hands in between
I a os.

Andrew 3. Mac lei tan,
Tyne and Wear

ID: Thanks for that. I'm sending you Konami's
Jackal, Firebird's Realm and Ultimate's Men 8
Ion the Ricochet budget label}, as a reward.

Southern comfort

LAST year I received the Graphic Adventure Cre¬
ator as a Christmas present. It turned out to be
quite good, but was very limited in some areas,
like the parser, the graphics and the fact that the
finished game could only be one 43k file,

I found i could only do what the author
expected an adventure to be. Recently, though, I
bought an unknown program called the Genesis
Adventure Creator. It was half the price of GAC,
could have up to 250 picture/sound blocks, up to
20 graphics text'windows, split screens and
heaps of other options that could never be done
with GAC.

Anyway, the reason I'm writing this is because I
want to know why everyone raves on and on
about GAC. Okay, so its instruction manual is far
belter than Genesis's, and GAC is easier to learn.

Send your tetters to:

Lance Davis
Letters Editor
Amstrad Computer User
169 Kings Road, Brentwood
Essex CM 14 4EF

but after a while I could write really professional
programs with Genesis. Finally, look at the stan¬
dard of most GAC games, such as (Needs Dome
and Imagination!.

Junk!-

PS - Has the Hairy Hacker ever published a poke
for Trail blazer (disc}?

PSS - I own a CPC 6128, with a 5,25in second
drive, A MX MOUSE, blah, blah, brag, brag.

PSSS - And no. I'm not the brother oft he person
who wrote Genesis!

PSSS5 - What have you got against Australians
with 5,25in drives?

Chris Woodworth,
Queensland, Australia,

LD: We only saw a very early Genesis which was
to be marketed by CRl, and that was pretty
buggy. I can1 find a Trailblazer poke , but then
some mornings I have trouble finding the
bathroom.

If you think i r m going to send goodies all the
way to Australia you've got another think
coming. I didn't think it was very likely that your
brother lived in Devon , which is where Camel
Micros f0392 2118921 the producers of Genesis,
come from.

I've nothing against Australians. Why, some of
my best friends have heard of Australia. But
5.25in drives are for specialist users only . I'd
rather use Bin discs any day v

I'VE read in two magazines now that if I remove
the rom marked 40009 from my CPC 464 and
replace it with a rom 40025, then buy the DKT
64k ram I would have a CPC612B, I already have a
DDI1 disc drive and DMP 2000 printer.

Would this mean that I would have CP/M Plus
or still have and be able to use CP/M 2.2? I'm
using Amsword to write this letter. Will I still be
ableio use it or will I have to upgrade to Tasword
6128?

If I did upgrade to Tasword 6128 would this
now perform exactly as it would on the CPC
6128 ?

Would all the games and utility programs that
I've typed in out of magazines still work?

If this transformation takes place would I need
to buy a CPC 6128 manual for all the new instruc¬
tions and different codes, etc?

C.H.Spragg,
Sale, Cheshire,

LD: OK. You can buy CP/M 7- from CPC in Preston,
it costs £ 13.94 including VAT, P &P They are the
same people who supply the rom. You can com
contact them on 0772 555Q34 r

Your Amsword will work just as well as it ever
did, but you may want to upgrade to get the extra

Pages

IREN

Or TWA RE

Print Master

This superb program must
be the most useful printer
utility to date

Will allow you to print Tas-
Word/Protext fifes In a variety
of fonts/sizes.

Comes complete wfth 20 var-
led fonts.

Font designer allows you to
create your own fonts or alter
existing ones,

Semi proportional spacing is
available,

Will add NLQ to most printers,

3 types of screen dump In¬
cluding a 16 shade mode 0
dump.

Very easy to use, full Instruc¬
tions and demos Included,

No printer should be without It.
On disc ONLY £14,99
CPC 464/664/6128

Discotogy

This program really is the ultimate In disc utilities. Just
look at these features:

Disc copier will backup 99.9% of alf Amstrad discs,
Copy mufti pie flies in one go.

Will also transfer files from tape to disc and disc to tape.

Will work with 1 disc drive but If 2 are available. It makes
use of both.

Uses full 128K on a 6126 or 64K or a 464/664. Utilises any
memory expansions.

Edit any sector regardless of format.

Display sectors in Z6Q dlssassembly, hex, ascii, binary,
octal, decimal and even as a basic fisting!

Search dlse/flle for a given string, Dump screen onto a
printer.

Bui it in calculator for hex to decimal conversions etc.

Full graphically displayed explorer.

Exceptionalty easy to use, Uses pull down windows a
nd menus etc.

Many other unique features
Available now on disc at £T4.99
CPC 464/664/6128

Masterdisc/Oddjob owners, we will put Discology on the
B side of your disc for only £9.99

Discovery

Pius

Probably the best selling
tape to disc transfer pro-
gram for your Amstrad. This
highly successful and easy
to use utility wflI transfer the
majority of Amstrad soft¬
ware from tape to disc. Will
transfer 100's of programs,
Discovery Plus consists of 5
programs that will transfer
headeriess, hyperloaders
and even many speed-
locked programs from ta
pe to disc.

'Discovery Ptus must be the
most advanced and
probably most efficient
tape to disc transfer utility
to date' - Amstrad Action
12 / 86 .

Available now on disc at
only £14.99

CPC 464/664/6128

Eprom Programmer

Program your own ©proms with our easy to use unit.

This purpose built unit comes complete with separate
power supply and is cased to match your CPC, Software
on disc (can be put onto rom) will allow you to copy
roms, edit roms, and program them with full verification,

Wilt even allow basic programs to be run from rom.

A through connector and zlf socket make this device
easy to operate.

Will program 8K and 16K roms,

12V and 21V programming voltage switchable.

Available now only £49.99

Ultra Sound

An amazing program that gives you total control over
the sound capabilities of your CPC.

Unbelievable software speech.

Sound digitiser
Mini synthesiser
Sound effects producer

All of these can be incorporated Into your own programs,
or just used as they stand.

Available on disc at only £14.99

CPC 464/664/6128

Sound Biaster

An Ideal Christmas present for any games player.

Add super stereo sound to your computer. ThJs amplifier
comes complete with twin 3 way speakers and Is compat¬
ible with ail games,

Unbelievable high quality sound adds a new dimension to
games playing.

Adjustable volume and balance controls.

Easy to set up and operate.

Available now at only £29.99 + £2.00 postage
CPC 464/664/6128

For a limited period comes complete with FREE stereo
headphones.

ORDERING

We can accept orders over the telephone with Visa/
Access cards for Immediate despatch. Why wait, please
phone now.

Mail orders are welcome by cheque or postal orders,
Special offers are available only directly from us and
must end on 28/1/88

SPECIAL OFFERS

Cherry Paint (worth £9.99) free with every two
products ordered

Buy Ultrasound together with a Soundhlaster for
only £39,99 + £2.00 postage

Save £2.00 on Tape Utility now only £4.99

SIREN SOFTWARE, Tel 061-228 1831
2-4 Oxford Road, Manchester Ml 5QE

VISA

Pago TO

Amstrad User February' J988

LETTERS

/ _ /

features of Tasword 6128. Only a very few pro¬
grams written for the 464 do rtof work on the
6128, and will not work on an upgraded464, The
most notable of these is Manic Miner.

Yes you will need a new manual - try CPC for
one. DK'Jronics" products are now sold by Ram
Electronics. You can contact them on 0252
850085.

Software starvation

DOWN in Australia the CPC suffers greatly under
the antics of our so-called superiors. Our iocal
shop has the latest in C64 games at great prices,
but our Amstrad dealer sells the latest in Artisoft
games, DULL (and at huge prices!.

Even in the major cities I've had trouble
locating Amstrad games, and quite often the
prices are ridiculous.

Still Australia isn't that bad. I've two good
games. Gauntlet and Druid, which I got far Christ¬
mas 1386.

My few Amstrad friends have similar prob¬
lems. Looking at your magazines l 1 can see how
lucky UK owners are. I mean with games so read¬
ily available, you must live in paradise.

I hope you will print this letter so you UK CPC
owners know life in Australia isn't simple.

Senad Brktch,
Part Hedland W A
6721 Australia.

I'M writing to complain about the fact that you
cannot buy Amstrad computers and monitors
separately. I have a CPC664 and I would like to
upgrade it to a CPC6128.

There are a few things that I don't ike about the
CPCG64 like the keyboard, Why doesn't the
CPC664 have a keyboard like the CPC4G4 or
6126? I know a friend who- has a CPC464 and the
keyboard is much easier to type on.

Also 1 1 was disgusted at the fact that the major¬
ity vote in the survey was for less games reviews,

Nick Peacock,
Ipswich

LD; ft has Song been a complaint that you can't
buy monitors, but when you sell your 664 the
person who buys it from you is going to need a
monitor to go with it There is no point in keeping
the 664 if you are getting a 6128,

I disagree about the quality of the 664 key -
board, I think it is the best Amstrad keyboard
made, easily as good as rhaf on the PC 1640, and
much better than the one on the 8256 or 464.

The whole point of a survey is to find out what
the majority want. Did you vole?

Future tense?

IS it true what I have been reading in ACU that
Amstrad intends to stop manufacturing the CPC

sod concentrate on selling The Spectrum?

You cannot do this to us CPC owners. The CPCs
have been on the market for much too little time
for being taken off it.

And that idea about the Spectrum replacing the
CPC! To be straight out, the Spectrum is terrible.
In comparison with the Arnold it falls to pieces.

In games, business or whatever it's no good, l
know this because I have owned one. The CPC is
in my opinion a very good, useful computer and I
can't understand why Amstrad should stop
producing it, I have a 6128.

Johannes Hjaltoson
200 Iceland.

LD: No and yes, No, Amstrad does nor intend to
stop manufacturing the CPC , well not as far as f
knrjw. Sat the company is for some strange and
misguided reason spending a heck of a lot of
money on the Spectrum. Still Alan Sugar is the
one with the Rolls Royce, and I'm the one with
the Toyota , so perhaps it's a case of where
there's muck there's brass.

I LIVE in Australia (The land down under) and I
would like to tell you that I am outraged by your
competitions.

A boy walks into his local newspaper shop and
buys the latest Amstrad Computer User. He
thinks that this is great and goes home, When he
Is sitting down reading the magazine he finds
that there is a competition that he can do to win a
prize - but It had to be in three weeks ago.

So L on the behalf of all my fellow CPC 464
owners and also many other Amstrad owners,
think that you should try to rectify this.

Maybe you could have the occasional inter¬
national competition, due in an a date say two
months after publication.

Jonathan. A. Clark
Padbury 6025, Perth
Western Australia.

LD: OK, I've said before that the best way to get
ACU early is to emigrate. Come and live in
London and you will get the magazine within a

week of its being punted. Subscribers usually do
better.

But hr those of you with roots outside Europe
here is a qukky competition. Who was the female
star of Mad Max iff? All the usual competition
rules apply. The prize will be the very latest CPC
program fa arrive after the dosing date of... wait
for it... My 1st The prize will be sent air mail , so
you will have it before your friends even know
about its existence.

Surviving an attack

I THOUGHT I would strike while the iron is not
and make a complaint about the Decemner issue
of Amstrad Computer User. The review on
Survivor was absolutely diabolical
First off you put 'Author: Ocean' 1 when it rs
U S Gold, Then Liz really took a big attack on
Ocean. This will give them a bad name.

Do you really think Ocean can make a gams like
this? Only U S GOLD can. So would you please
put this right and make an apology to Ocean as
they are the best company.

My computer is an Amstrad 6128. I have no
complaints about your magazine - it's great.
Please bring back the old kind of cover,

Simon Davis,
Wales,Sheffield,

LD: Yup, Liz is a very naughty girl. She has been
suitably punished- made to play Amsoft games
for a whole 20 minutes and threatened with
having to tell Bruce Everiss what she really
thought of Pro Ski Simulator. Sorry Ocean.

I WAS wondering where you could get a load of
computer games which are stored on a micro¬
chip, so all I have to do is to type iHJGames and a
list of games will be displayed on the screen,

Amstrad User February 1968

Pago 1 f

Then I enter what game I want to play.

There is something else I would like to know as
Wi I, my brother, is always playing an my com¬
puter. Is there a microchip that when you switch
on the Amstrad CPC464 the computer displays
(H)PASSWORD so when you type your password
the computer rests automatically, so you can do
what you want to do? Then it will stop my brother
from playing on my computer.

If you had lots of games on one microchip it
would be better than a cartridge. With a cartridge
you would be sliding it in and out every time you
want to play on it and soon the chipboard slot on
the computor wouId be worn down, and then you
have to buy a new one. That costs money.

Gary Bowen,
Windtesham, Surrey.

ID: All r he (HI commands use a sideways rom.
Roms are very expensive - something like
Trantor would cost over £50 if it was sold on a
chip instead of a tape. You are limited to the
number of games you can hold in sideways rom
- usually 16 programs at a time.

Yes ■, it wouid be nice , but discs are a much
better bet and not so much siower . You could
write yoL-r own [BAR} password command., but I
don't know of any which are commercially
available.

In Ter Face

I AM a CPC 612B owner and I have recently joined
the official Amstrad Users Club. I was going to
ask them this question, but I thought that you
might provide me with a better answer,
t am going to buy a DK'tronics speech
synthesiser for my 6128 soon. Is there any special
Basic command word for making speech so that I
can design my own speech program?

If I had about five small battery-powered
motors, like the ones you find in toys, how could I
rig them up to my GT28 so that if I press and hold
down a certain key , motor ) will start and if I
release that key, motor 1 will stop and the same
with the other motors?

How could I connect a thermostat and a light
sensor to my 6128 so that my computer can
monitor the temperature and also monitor the
amount of light in the room? Would I use a tight
dependant resistor for a light sensor?

Nicholas Irving
Headley, Hampshire.

LD; The speech synthesiser comes with full
instructions which explain how to write your own
speech prog. For details of interfacing contact
Commotion on 01-804 1378..

Deutsch discs

I AM writing to correct you of your rather rash
statement in the November issue concerning
Mr. Barry Goodsell's enquiry about hard discs
'or the CPC series of computers.

There is a German firm by the name Vortex
which marketed a 20Mb disc system for the CPCs

in July 1986. The hard disc can be used as four
drives.

If anyone requires further information they
should contact; Vottex-Versand, FALTER-
STRASSE, 7101 FLEIN. WEST GERMANY.

The actual designation is either WD - 1000 or
WD - 2000 for 10Mb or 20Mb respectively. It may
also be a good idea to state which computer you
use as there is also a version for the Joyce.

J.W. Imrie
5 Regiment R.A, Workshop
BFPO 20

LD: There were some problems with Vortex over
copyright of the DDF 1 software which precluded
them from selling their kit in the UK, but thanks
for the info .

Prime numbers

IN the last issue ofACU Mr.W Elliot of Lancaster,
showed us a program that gave the prime num¬
bers up to 100. The program had two
weaknesses::

• It could only handle numbers up to 100.

4 The program was very slow.

I typed in a program that runs for as long as
you want it to. It gives the numbers up to 100 in
5.06 secs, whereas Mr,Elliot's program needed
22,36. I am not good at maths, and I am sure
somebody has a better program to send to ACU.
Please do I

Here is what I came up with:

amtta

! OWN a CPC 464 and I am very interested in art. I
was shocked to hear that Art Studio by Rain bird
was only on disc. I use a program at school called
Paint Spa on the Research Machines, so please
tell me of a few programs available (that are not
too expensive).

Simon Williams
Hedensford, Staffs,

■#

LD: Look at Melbourne Draw from Melbourne
House or the ever-popuiar Screen Designer from
Amsoft Both are available on tape and should be
available in your focal software shop .

u»

pstaged

DID you see him? On the box, BSC 1, Wednesday
night r 7:15? No. Well l r m talking about "our" Alan
Sugar on Wqgan. Didn't he do well? JI Qne of the
most successful men in the city", said Wogie
sitting on his Beeb prop chair.

I think AMS stole the show. You're famous, Ali
baby. Please send me your signature lonly
joking]. But it was good, wasn't it?

Did I hear him say that Ali had launched a new
portable computer? What is It called? How much
is it ? Tell me more.

Oh by the way I am writing to you on a Brother
HR-1 printer on my dad's computer (snobby Apri¬
cot, double drive Ms there any way I can link the
printer up to my old Arnold?

The printer is a daisywheel and it has a serial
port at the back. Could you help? And what soft¬
ware could I use for printing on the printer?

Anyway give my regards to Alan Sugar and tell
him that I liked his suit,

Scott McDonagh
Burn bank,Hamilton.

LD: If you knew how much Armani suits cost then
you'd think that Alan Sugar's togs were very poor
\dm.

You can link your CPC to a serial primer with
the Amstrad Serial interface. This will need some
special software and costs a whopping £60 which
explains how Alan Sugar can afford £500 suits
(whoops worra giveaway}.

n% ~ 1

2®

FDR it = 2 TO nX

- 1

IF nX HOD IX = 0

THEN il =

it i

NEXT i PRINT nX :

: i* + t :

G0 TO

PNojd
S-171 52 Solna
SWEDEN

Female action

AS a female micro user I would like to enter the
debate concerning the apparent lack of interest
from my half of the population in micros and
micro magazines.

Whenever my two daughters and ! decide to
treat ourselves to a game we are dismayed by the
preponderance of male-orientated discs.

Perhaps we are unusual, but we have no inter¬
est in zap-zap or even pow-pow, War games do
not thrill us, nor does World Cup football. We
enjoy adventure games, but half-dressed maid¬
ens don't turn us on and we have been reduced
to playing Think! or Trivial Pursuit which, good
though they are, are beginning to pall.

There must be gome female programmers out
there who could devise games that have more
significance for us,

For example , an adventure based on avoiding
macho drunks during a night on the town, how
many screaming babies could we feed at once, a
nightmare adventure at the supermarket, and so
on.

Seriously, it's not the machinery which turns us
off, it's the software.

On the subject of software, can anyone suggest
a cheap word processing program to replace my
existing one and still be able to transfer my files?

I received a free Micro word pack, running
under CP/M, when I bought my micro, and have
written a good half of my degree dissertation on
it,

I now realise that it is not comprehensive
enough for my needs, and would like to replace it
without having to rewrite it. Any suggestions?

I have a problem with my printer, When I
bought it from a nationwide discount store \ was
assured that the Amstrad DMP 3000 was ideal
for my needs.

Page 12

Amstrad User February'' 1988

: TTERS

Taken by the lure of a free lead in the pack; I
bought it and then discovered that of course, it
was a PC lead. Much hassle later I got the right
lead, but the user instructions are also for a PC.

I am convinced that there is no CPC manual for
the DMP 3000. I can use its most basic func¬
tions and that's all.

Is there anything I can do about this, or am I
condemned to u si ng £ 170 worth of eq u i prnent a t
a level well below its capabilities?

Sue Thomas,
West Bridgford, Nottingham.

LD: There are games which will serve your
minority interest, hut not surprisingly it is a
minority of games. You may represent 50 per
cent of the population, but only a tiny fraction of
computer users are female.

Of course that isn't right but software houses
are in the business of making money - not
promoting women's software. Have a look at
Plundered Hearts, it's a spoof Mills 5 Boon
adventure from infocom (01431 1101,l
I'm pleased you like Think! it's one of the most
underrated games ever.

If Microword won't do what you want then I
doubt that any cheap word processor will'. Write
to David Foster at the Applications Advice
column outlining you went from a word
processor. I suspect he will recommend Protext.

Try CPC for a DMP 2000 manual, most of the
things in there should work on a DMP 3090.

Add on advice

I AM interested in buying a 5.25in disc drive for
my 6128. After reading November's Cage Page, it
seems that such drives are available from £99.

Please could you enlighten me on the meaning
of a Shugart interface and where I might obtain
such a drive (would any Beeb drive be OK?). Does
anybody make a cheap eprom programmer for
the 6128?

Gavin Candland
Bush Hill Park, Enfield.

ID: If you don't understand things like Shugart
busses then you are better off sticking to a 3in
drive. As a second disc drive a 5.25in is quite
simple , hut the software support isn't and the
capacity no better. Siren Software (061-228 18311
has a CPC-dedicated eprom blower for £50.

Praise for DER

WITH reference to the letter by S Holding, ACU
November. My wife kindly bought me a CPC 6128
without screen but with modulator.

I reasoned that the signal on conversion to a
linear one for the TV aerial socket was degraded.
Before I did anything else I changed the portable
TV for one with RGB input (rental from DER), but
was stilt dissatisfied.

I now wanted a connection lead from computer
lo the RGB socket. I had zero help from Amstrad.
or Fergusons, (the TV manufacturers) on how to

make up a connection lead,

Not expecting much I telephoned DER in
Slough, I could only manage to speak to the
young lady dealing with telephone calls, but she
said leave it with her.

Within 30 minutes she phoned back to say that
they would make up a lead and send it to me. I
received the lead three days later by post!

I now use the modulator only as a power
supply and have direct connection from com¬
puter to the RGB input Need^s to say I am very
happy.

P.S. Maxim,
High Wycombe, Bucks.

Super service

MAY I praise the total excellence of Rombo
Productions, producers of the UIDE Digitiser for
the Amstrad.

On returning the guarantee registration with a
question about after-sales service and enquiring
about the availability of a phone-in Help lino I was
grateful to receive a reply in the affirmative.

I had cause to use this Help line a few weeks
later and received excellent help with my prob¬
lems. I made the phone call at B o'clock in the
evening.

Thank you Marcus and staff at Rombo.

G A Britton,
Bracondale School, Norwich..

Batman Ei

I WANT to know if there is a Batman II out or
coming out please. And is there going to be a
second Paperboy? I liked Batman a lot, \{ was
good, exciting and a little bit hard. And. Paperboy
I think is brfMiant. I haven't got it on my compurer,
but I've'played the coin machine.

Michael Kiely
London SE17 2LFL

LB: Look at this month '$ article on Match Day li
You'll see that Jon Pitman wrote Head Over
Heels as a follow up to Batman, and it is brilliant.
There is no coin-operated Paperboy II Even so I
doubt that Elite will follow Its Bomb Jack II
success by releasing a Paperboy II.

There were gross inaccuracies in you* November
1967 issue article entitled Out of the dumps con¬
cerning Amstrad's LQ3500.

First, the Epson LQ range of printers is not,
quote: "the old Epson range". Epson has had an
LG range for four years and at present there ere
three Epson LG models - LQ600, LG 1000 and
LG2500,

Already announced are two replacement

Amstrad User February 1388

Page 13

models - LQ85Q and LQ1050 - and an upgrade -
LQ2500+. Further, an Epson LQ at the Jew end of
the range - LQ50G - has been announced as
being available from January 1988.

Secondly, you refer to Epson stopping produc¬
tion of the IQ15Q0 some 18 months ago. While
this may be correct - the context in which you
use the statement infers that Epson have stopped
all LQ production, which we patently have not,
and that the LG150Q was the only LQ printer
available from Epson, which it obviously is not
Taken in conjunction with your "old range"
comment above, this "stopped making them"
statement is grossly misleading.

Thirdly, you wrongly slate that the wide car¬
riage version of the Amstrad printer is the LQ500.
It is in fact the LQ5OQ0 [MrSugar's own words).
This error is particularly reprimandable since, as
stated above, Epson have already declared our
intention to bring out an LQ50G in January 1988,
Considering these potentially damaging
inaccuracies, we feel it fair that we ask you, in the
next issue of the magazine, to give over a section
of your editorial space to informing your readers
of the correct facts,

We accept that while such editorial may not be
equal in size to the original piece, you will con¬
sider a reasonably prominent position for the cor¬
rections.

Finally, you should be aware that, on the above
date, legal proceedings were started against
Amstrad to prevent them using the designation
LQ in combination with a number for their prin¬
ters.

Tony Westray
Public Relations Manager
Epson [UK] Ltd.

LD: We've printed this fetter in fuff in the interests
of fairness, but i think you'll agree the only real
mistake you've highlighted is the nomenclature
of the DMP 5000. Since we received your fetter
Amstrad and Epson have reached agreement on
use of the designation LQ.

Could you please print the following: CPC 464
owner hopes to find a pen friend who will try and
help myself learn about my computer and use it
to its utmost ability.

If I see this advertised in some way I shall be
totally stuck for words to say to you how thankful
1 am. As 1 am in a special hospital and there is not
a lot I can do about getting information from the
outside world to do with computers.

For your reference, I have got the CPC 464 +
CTM 644 Monitor and the DMP 2000 Printer. I do
also have a Teletext Adapter for my computer,
and it keeps me in touch with the outside world.
And only some weeks ago my ODI-1 came so f am
now learning very much more about my system.

Mr SJ.Hollis,
Lawrence Ward,
c7o Park Lane Hospital,
Mag hull,
Liverpool L31 1HW

Mistake take tl

ON page 44 of the December, 1982,. issue of
Amstrad Computer User:

1 } Lines 115 + 120 appear twice. Which is the
correct pair?

2 ) An error message tells me: "Data line 595 is
wrong" What is the correct version?

P.CJowsey
Aberdeenshire AB3 7RN,

ID The second pair, line 595 should read:

5 95 DATA B3,DD,77,IIMMMF,DM4K
Sorry J bout that.

Prime numbers

Hmmm!

THE October issue has a program for picking
prime numbers. I have a short answer which
works at a reasonable speed (my opinion I.

You can also choose the area to pick within,
modify line 10:

FOR T -

1 TO

100

F a SSR

FOR N =

2 TO

IF m

LIFT

<T/N) THEN U

NEXT N

PRINT 7

NEXT T

I have had my CPC 464 since November, 1985.
The only thing 1 can complain about is the
manual which is translated into Norwegian. You
sure don't team much from it. Bad translation
and little or no explanation to what is going on in
the examples. Here they have a lot to learn from
others..

l r VE been hoping that someone will write to ask
you the questions that have foxed me since
buying my machine last Christmas, but it seems
that I need to seek inspiration directly from the
horse's mouth.

I recently bought Rainbird's Advanced Music
System for my eight-year-old son who is inter¬
ested in music and plays the piano. I wanted to
buy a keyboard tg make it easier for him to use
AMS.

Boots sell one for the Commodore and per¬
suaded me to buy the Cheetah model Unfor¬
tunately, the Cheetah keyboard utilises its own
software and requires the use of a tape recorder,
which I do not possess.

I took the keyboard back and Boots kindly
refunded the money. Is there a way I can use the
keyboard at a reasonable price with the 6128 and
also use the AMS?

I am particularly anxious to obtain a low cost
statistics package for my machine, preferably
something that will carry out non-parsmetric
statistics as well as parametric. Can anyone help?

I also wish to obtain a genealogical database
for the 6128 that is compatible with the system
generated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints but with functions using larger discs. I
do not have a second disc drive as yet.

Finally, 1 was disappointed to note that 95 per
cent of your readership are male. However, may I
point out that many mothers of your young men
could quite easily be converted to the idea of the
benefits of computerisation, if they had even the
slightest smattering of typing skill and your
editors took account of the value of this machine
to such strange creatures as females and
endeavoured to sell the ideas in an appealing
manner.

I do not think a great deal of ACU and will not
be renewing my membership because you do not
acknowledge the value of the CPC, particularly
the 6128, to a female audience and you write
articles that are highly technical and, quite
frankly, difficult to understand for the novice.

I'm sure you are all feeling quite pleased with
yourselves for being the "best selling Amstrad
magazine in the country".

When most of the others cater for kids playing
games or PC users, it must be great to be the best
at being jack of all trades, master of none.

With hope for a better future!

Karen E,Burton {female!)

Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire.

LD: Unfortunately there is no simple way to con¬
nect a piano keyboard to TAMS. They did plan a
Midi module but this would have been pretty
expensive.

You won't be abie to use TAMS, but there are a
few Midi modules around, the best value for
money being the one from Ram electronics. This
will need a Midi keyboard so you are looking at
around £200 for a reasonable system.

Better news on the statistics side: S. C Coleman
sell Amstat You can call them on 0530 415919.

We have an article on genealogy coming up in
the next couple of months . I don't know if It is
file-compatible with the Mormon database , but It
is pretty comprehensive.

In a way it is good to receive the odd hostile
letter, so much better than another '7 think your
mag is fab terrif brill can I have some free
software?"

The appeal of ACU is that it covers such a wide
range. You may want more less techie articles,
others want more games. That is why we ran a
survey.

ideally you should grow with the magazine . As
you learn more about your computer from the
Simple articles you will progress to understand
more of the complicated ones.

We can only hope to please as many people as
possible, and if female readers want more say
they should push for it by writing more articles.

Page 14

Amstrad User February 1988

THfcrolM

NOW FT BUSINESS
REPORTS GO ON LINE

THE Financial Times Business
Reports database is now part
of Profile Information - the
online service formerly known
as Datasolve International —
which is obtainable through
MicroLink, it is the first venture
between Profile and Its new

It's the
Tory line

TORY politicians and party
workers all over the country
are being urged to join
MicroLink .

The Conservative Com¬
puter Forum , an organis
at ton formed W years ago
to promote computing
among party members , is
1 behind the campaign.

Committee member
Warwick Childs said: "Per*
haps the greatest potential
a computer can offer - elec¬
tronic communications -
has up to now been sadly
neglected in the Conserva¬
tive Party, in this respect we
are well behind the other
main political parties.

"At present we have
something approaching
200 CCF members - think
what an advantage it would
be if they were able to
provide a nation-wide elec¬
tronic mail network for the
benefit of their con¬
stituencies.

"These people are our
prime targets for linking
together electronically.
Eventually we hope to see
all constituencies , Mbs,
party officials and offices on
the MtcroLink system ",

owner, The Financial Times,
which recently acquired the
company from Datasolve for
£10 million.

Based on the highly-
regarded FT newsletter
service, the new database
provides the full text of 22
regular newsletters covering
technology, business, finance,
media and energy,

Profile is best known to
MicroLink subscribers for its
World Reporter database
containing the complete text
of more than 25 worldwide
newspapers, periodicals and
news services.

As well as the world's lead¬
ing business newspapers -

ITs now quicker and easier to
use the massive MicroLink lib¬
rary of free computer software.

With the number of titles
available for downloading fast
approaching the 600 mark,
subscribers were in danger of
experiencing difficulty locating
specific programs. As a result

the Financial Times and the
Wall Street Journal - Profile
also offers publications such
as the Washington Post, the
Guardian and the Daily and
Sunday Telegraph.

Several major international
news services such as Associ¬
ated Press and Asahi are
included, along with a wide
range of authoritative sources
on international politics, busi¬
ness, markets and finance.

Profile also offers access to
McCarthy Online, which con¬
tains full text articles selected
for their relevance to busi¬
ness an-d commerce from
more than 60 of the world's
top business publications.

MicroLink has completely
redesigned the telesoftware
database to speed up the
process of selection.

Users can now choose from
a menu a complete database
of program titles suitable for
their own particular make of
computer.

The social
side wins

MICROLINK subscriber Nigel
In wood temporarily aban¬
doned a career in accoun¬
tancy and law to help his
parents open a business,
Fourteen years later he very
much doubts he'll ever return
to the office.

The business his family took
over was Judges Bakery, in the
High Street of Hastings old
town near the harbour.

With the addition of a res¬
taurant, if became the only
bakery to be listed in tourist
guides such as Egon Ronay
and the Good Food Directory.

"I'm on MicroLink for pleas¬
ure, because computing is my
hobby", said Nigel Inwood,
■"Despite its international fame
this is still a one-shop business
- my Email communications
are more likely to be social
than official,

rj l chose MicroLink because
it offered more interesting and
entertaining features than the
, other systems available".

Software speed-up

Third World connection

A LEADING independent authority on condi¬
tions in Third World countries has joined
MicroLink to improve its international
communications.

The Overseas Development Institute was
formed nearly 30 years ago to study and
monitor economic and agricultural develop¬
ment abroad,

At any one time it has as many as 2D
research projects underway in different parts
of the world. As well as publishing vital infor¬

mation about conditions in various countries,
the ODI also tries to influence the decisions of
policy makers around the world.

"We have an ongoing need to communicate
with researchers and other institutions
worldwide", said ODI spokesman Peter Gee

"As part of a project to improve communi¬
cations we are looking at electronic mess¬
aging, and MicroLink is as good a base as any
to start with its excellent Email and telex facil¬
ities".

YOUR chance to join

ADVENTURES

HEW you sit back and think
about the majority of
adventures you have
played, you will realise
that they contain many of
the facets of a mystery novel. Vou are given, or
have to find, various clues that enable you to
learn about another situation requiring a hurt
for more hints to yet another set of dues,

Vou may also meet characters along the way
whom you have to interrogate to extract some
vital piece of information. What is also quite
common, is the final showdown revolving
around the unmasking; of a master villain or
criminal.

Some ad ventures carry this hunt for clues to its
logical conclusion by creating a game that is as
close to a true detective mystery as you can get.
Strangely enough, most of those adventures
appearing on the Amstrad that would also be
considered as "true detective stories", have also
been programs that have achieved high scores
amongst the ratings for adventures.

This could well be because the structure of a
detective story requires more pre-planning on
the part of the writer, with a very logical pro¬
gression of clues from start to finish. Each major
problem solved providing another link in a long
chain. In other types of adventure, individual
puzzles may only need to be linked within a smell
section of the whole adventure.

The latest detective story Jo cross my screen is
Killed Until Dead, from US Gold, Following the
trend of previous games of the same genre, this
too, should perform welt in the ratings. Not only
are the mysteries interesting to solve and the

graphics good, but the way in which the player
interacts with the game are novel and will surely
be a blueprint for many adventures in the future.

The game is controlled by joystick (or arrow
keys). No typing is needed. All questions and
answers are supplied -you just have to make the
right selection. In the persona of Hercule Holmes,
you pursue your investigations almost wholly
from the comfort of your own chair,

The scene is set in the Gargoyle Hotel, where
five of the world's finest mystery writers are
getting set to turn fiction into fact with a festival
of mayhem and murder. You alone are in a pos¬

ition to foil their worst excesses.

The time is twelve noon and you have until
midnight to find out who will kill whom, with
what, where the dirty deed will take place and
finally the motive behind the murder.

Fortunately, your comfortable chair is behind a
fairly hi‘tec desk. It has video monitors covering
all main locations and a tele phone complete with
video link,

There are three tape recorders that can be com
nected to the monitors and an ordinary looking
notebook that will automatically record a I! the
information you discover. There is also a folder
giving brief background details on each of the
suspects. The only time you need leave your
chair is for the occasional break-in to a suspect's
room to gather additional dues.

Amstrad versions are only available for CPC
machines and come on disc or cassette. The
Opening sequence includes an optional demo
mode that gives you a good idea of what is
expected, and is worth watching.

Having decided to take up the challenge, you
are offered four difficulty levels: Elementary, my
dear Watson, Murder medium rare, Cases for the
cunning, and Super sleuth. Each level gives you a
choice of several murder mysteries to solve. In
all, there are 21 different cases,

The critical stages are the interrogations with
the suspects (via video phone). Their answers
and physical reaction to four crucial questions
regarding - murderer, victim, weapon and place
will lead you to your final confrontation. Should
your accusation be at fault, you are shot on the
spot!

To get a suspect lo answer your questions, you
must shake their confidence by proving you
know something about them that they thought
was secret. To get this information, you have to
search their rooms, To break-in to a room it must
•be empty - check with your video monitor - and
you must answer a trivia type question.

These questions ell have murder/mystery as a
common theme and should you fail to answer
correctly any attempt at a further break into that
room is prohibited for 10 minutes.

In addition to finding information that will rattle

Page 16

Amstrad U$er February 1988

r ^

i ifjj&tr' ill

Jt > *

E ■ rf. -~irTj Ti

mm * ; * *

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• t £• K lair ft

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i? "i* 4ft y ». 1 ' i* <

Killed untii - innovative

youF suspect into talking,, you may find dues to
poss ble motives end also notes of times and
pieces where they plan to meet &ach other during
the day. These notes enable you to program your
three tape recorders to snoop on their clandes¬
tine meetings.

By repeatedly talking to the suspects, and
taking no other action, it is perfectly feasible to
extract the basic facts regarding weapon, place
and who is to be killed and by whom, Learning
the motive requires a mere methodical approach,
It is much more satisfying to KNOW you have the
right answer than clutching at straws and simply
guessing.

When questioning a suspect, they will always
give you an answer of some sort such as: "If
Agatha is the killer, the body won't be Mike's" or
"If the deed's done with the poison a life will and
in the foyer".

Your magic notebook wil record these as
separate entries under SOURCE I spelt
SCOURGE If, KILLER, WEAPON and ROOM, What
it does not tell you is whether the entry was
positive or negative - "...the body WON'T be
Mike's"? ",..a life WILL end in the foyer", The
notebook also records what you found when you
searched the rooms, what was overheard on the
tape monitors and any telephone calls you have

had offering information.

The graphics are simple but well drawn and
amusing, especially when the facial expressions
change as you ask questions that force a truthful
answer. To make life that bit easier, the more
significant answers are highlighted in your
notebook,

Killed Until Dead is not difficult to play. With so
many plots to choose from it should be perfectly
feasible to return after a few days and tackle a
previously solved game - with almost as much
enthusiasm as when you started.

The instructions are fairly easy to understand,
even though they are printed using a very small
typeface, On the review 1 copy, getting start sd
using the disc version required RUN "DISK''’ and
not RUN "KILLED" as stated.

F OR those that have enjoyed the
television programs Yes Minister
and Yes Prime Minister, the com¬
puter game of the latter by Mosaic
Publishing is a must,

Game operation is in some ways similar to
Killed Until Dead, with the flow of events decided
by multiple choice questions. Joystick control or
single key entry makes for ease of play with little
or no interruption to interfere with the weighty
decisions to be taken at Number 10,

The graphics are not exactly awe inspiring,
consisting of s general view of the PM's office, A
movable cursor is directed to various items
around the room and on the desk to initiate the
different actions to be taken by PM Hacker. Look
at the d ia ry to c heck t he day's a pp o i nt me nts, zero
in on the teleprinter telephone or intercom to
receive messages. Check the safe to get your
latest popularity ratings,

Point to the door to leave the office, either for a

Yes Prime Minister- tea easy?

pre-arranged appointment or to hasten to the
offices of Bernard ! Private Secretary I or Sir
Humphrey (Cabinet Secretary), to solve the latest
crisis. There is even a suggestion box on the wall
that warrants a regular -coking into.

The main aim of the game, apart from just
enjoying the repartee, is to last out one week in
the high office of PM and finish with a higher
popularity rating than when you started.

Although there is said to be some randomness
in what happens - so enhancing replays of the
game, I cannot say I noticed any great changes in
the major topics that arose throughout my
weekly stints as the Right Honorable James
Hacker. On the other hand, there are so many
multiple choice decisions to make, additional
weeks in Downing Street were still enjoyable.

Using the disc version, I found a week passed
in just over an hour, You may save the game
position after each day’s labour but unless you
are desperately striving to get maximum
popularity, this f acility did seem a little unnecess¬
ary, Each day is a separate program and must be
loaded In as you proceed.

Yes Prime Minister is available for both CPC
and PCW Amstrads (cassette and disc). The

A,n ■ 5 trad User February ■ 988

Page ? 7

ADVENTURES

znn± l_j

playing format runs along the same lines as
Mosaic's The Archers and Adrian Mole, games
but I think the characterisation and atmosphere
of the TV program is more accurately reproduced
fas are the digitised pictures of the main
characters).

I thoroughly enjoyed playing YPM, but I do
wonder about its staying power in comparison
with the average adventure's much greater
playing time.

■'*

JfJSfiSl HE year is 11349 and you have
***■83^*^ been assigned to collect 24 pal-
'■ffiff lets of forms from an official
printing press. The forms are in
fact forms to request forms to
request black binders for request forms - a fairly
normal situation for Stellar Control
Tfiis could well be one of your better days.
Filling out and filing forms is not the most
exciting of jobs and the "printing press" referred
to is on a space station some light years away.
The trip should break the normal routine nicely.
Little do you know how nicely normal routine is
going to be broken.

Stationfal is Infocom's sequel to their success¬
ful space opera Planetfall. In that you rose from
being an Ensign Seventh Class, relegated to
sweeping and cleaning details, to Lieutenant First
Class - pushing paper. Your meteoric rise, wholly
due to your having saved the planet Reside from
total destruction. Not a bad day's work really,..
Helping you with your problems on Reside was
a cheerful little robot called Floyd, You are
delighted to find that he is assigned to you for
this trip to Gamma Delta Gamma 777 G 5^59.
When you arrive, you find that all is not well.
Some of the robots seem to have developed anti-
human tendencies and there is an alien space*
ship docked in one of the landing bays.

The Commander's log refers to a strange met*
all ic pyra mid f ou n d a boa rd the alien ship and you
get decidedly jittery when it appears that there is
now no-one aboard the Space Station.

If you have a disc drive, like science fiction,
programs with a heavy dose of humour and have
a few days to spare, you will just have to save up
for StaticnfaII. Like all Infocom games, it is log¬
ical, has plenty of locations to explore, has reams
of good text and is not cheap.

Like other adventures from the same source, it
also requires words to be entered in full (well, the
first six letters anyway}, continuously accesses
the disc, thereby driving the more impatient
among us round the bend, and needs the fairly
obvious operations to be performed in pains¬
taking detail.

However much I deplore this slow and tortuous
path I have to tread in order to play Infocom
games-they are all worth it in the end. I just love
the response to having entered SAVE: Floyd's
eyes light up. Jf Qh boy! Are we gonna try
something dangerous now?". This little robot
really contributes to making Stationfall what it is,
a classic Infocom adventure,

Packaged in the box are a full set of diagrams
for the space station and just what you've always
wanted, a cloth patch proclaiming your rank of

Lieutenant First Class (boldly going where angels
fear to tread!},

At least the diagrams will help you with your
mapping, perhaps even eliminate the need for
maps at all. There are also some samples of the
forms used by Stellar Control - read them
carefully, not only are they amusing but will also
help you on your travels.

Once you start touring the space station and its
attendant "village" of old spaceships, you will
begin to get an idea of what you have to do (read
the Commander's log as soon as you can), The
solution is straightforward in theory but as with
most Infocom games, although perfectly logical,
a little devious in practice!

Watch out for danger at almost every major
step forwards and remember that you are the
only one you can trust.

C ASTLE of Eagles would appear to
be the product of a new software
house, S Si M Software. I suspect
that the game is not available
through normal outlets, but is
obtainable direct from S 8c M at PQ Box 332,
London SE15 3LE. Cost is £4,95.

You play the part of an agent in the last World
War. Parachuted into enemy territory, you must
break into a fortified castle and photograph top
secret plans that are vital to the Allied war effort.

Right from the start things go wrong. Your
aircraft is shot up and your equipment has to be
thrown out to lighten the load. You and your

Castle of Eagles - well GAC-ed

partner have to jump out much fu rther from your
objective than was planned, and he is killed on
landing.

To find your way to the castle and get the
equipment you need is no picnic. The snowy
landscape that meets your eyes is treacherous
and everywhere looks the same under that
deadly white mantle.

Spotter aircraft must not see you, and wild
dogs must be dealt with before you can get to
your objective. There are vague impressions of
Alistair Maclean's Where Eagles Dare - but do
not rely too heavily on this clue to solve the
adventure.

My review copy had a few minor bugs, but
hopefully these will have been ironed out of
production copies. The game is written using
Incentive's Graphic Adventure Creator and is well
thought out There are plenty of graphics, even if
a lot of them look the same.

The initial stages through alt that snow bring a
chill to the bones. The puzzles are quite good, but
I would have preferred a few more, even at the
expense of fewer graphics.

It is good to see that individuals |?) are still
prepared to try and take on the mega-producers
of software, especially when they are adventures.
Lets hope S & M learns and prospers.

Page 18

Am$(rad User February 1988

COMPUTER PRINTERS

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I THE ON LY

HACKING

M ultitudinous ancillary felicitations

an' all that folks. Another Hairy Hack¬
ers column hits the vaned air con¬
ditioning unit, this time on location in:
The garden.

Terrific, a couple of months back Ed saw the
Haunt that was done in the bathroom and liked it
so much, that he wants it done in another spot
That other spot was the greenhouse-. Unfor¬
tunately, this was converted into matchwood and
ground glass by the recent storms, and took a
modest collection of exotic succulents and cacti
with it.

So, here we are, freezing our little toes in the
year's first snowdrifts, icicles hanging off our little
noses, disc drives freezing up, knocking the
blocks off of snowmen, and watching all these
very cold monkeys running around trying to find

Vox is out and about in the garden. But
there is not much work to do in the soil
when the white stuff lays round about,
deep and crisp and even

i their bearings.

Despite the weather, plenty of stuffs to chew
over this month, so I'll get to grips with it (dunno
where Justin's got to this month, so I'm on me
own). Seconds out, round one. Ding ! Who threw
that snowball?

Hopefully, the last round in the Elite {Ed got the
PC version last week, with filled graphics, wow)
saga. Timothy Bell has finally managed to hon¬
estly come by a cloaking device. To do this, you
have to blast an Asp. nick its cargo pod, and hit
escape. Bingo, you can now vanish.

Tim also says that it isn't easy being a dolphin
as you can't hold a joystick, Put your analyst On
danger money, baby.

Woe, woe

Another letter [yes, that makes at least two so
far! from the pile,from Glynn White of Balloch [!),
tel Is ta I es of wo e of J u st i n's Pacific poke. Pleasant
messages like "SYNTAX ERROR IN 659" appear
on the screen, and his 464 is accidentally and
brutally hurled at the nearest window. Is he
alone, or have we made a cock-up 7 I'll ask Jusrin
over a pint of zider.

Isn't it amazing how the wind blows the snow
into weird shapes? I mean, this lump here looks
... Hang on, that's Big Sol in a snowdrift. Finding
her in a snowdrift isn't difficult; its digging her
out that's the tricky part. I mean, I wouldn't say
she's fat, but when she goes to cat heaven, she'll
get stuck in the pearly cat-flap. While I dig her
out, you can see what good J ol "Mighty" Joe
Garner has been up to.

The busy lad has been knocking up all kinds of
stuff, including soma programs Lucky for the 65
per cent, or whatever it was, of you who said they
wanted more down-to-earth Basic listings in the
mag, four of them are just that.

The first one is a slightly familiar scrolling
message routine with variable speed [spot ye
olde English spelyng of "Programme" inn lyne
34):

INK 3 ;NtllE *

0 REN ' Scrolling by J.P.Garner .
Mighty Joe)

8 m- Kote tht set W P;’ 0 :.

to galling the routine (lines 100

E onwards)

REM ' enter your own text.
m REN to m-o rk in mode I change 4 Of
the 3c i in Line 413 to a-' and

ll REM 'change 06,in lines 60 and

Rt/^VlND tObR FAVOURITE SCROLL

IK S'Etb M«* < > “ NCE (0U SE

T TO A SPEED VQU LIKE
U REM 1 BREAK THE PROGRAMME, TfPE P
3'NT T THEM CHANGE THE t IN LINE
1)75 TO THE WIDE MSPWID Ml IE
UTE LINES 1070,1071

4fl p. aTA 5a,if/90,lc,lc,5c,3c,it,lcj3c

Page 20

Amstrad User February W8B

HACKING

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ike a full stop

*-200:y=l50:ft£H set corners of * 1 * * *
pUqje' through ^hich to scrcl {

°. B361N M,M+22t,)rM6,]f! re* 6
e me window

■ 15 / i:R£n set eoLouf (is dim

laped m ins 15)

;J< MJ:B0RDER 13:PAPes T:CLS:P
* Pn 0:CLG:Rffl just f 0r e ff ecs „
eLete y 0 u H5rit
CALL 89000

Dinkeys; if tj-v then t=t-i
IF kl-V THEN t-t+1
FOR a=T 10 t
NEXT

GOTO 1050

OK, that one over with; here's a much better
flashy routine to put whom ping great letters all
over the screen, with oars of colour zipping up or
down them.

The original proggy (sent in on a tape) had a
nice command called GRAPHICS PEN in it. Those
with 6128s and 664s (wot are they ?J would have
had no trouble, but youFs truly took a few min¬
utes to spot the cause of SYNTAX ERROR coming
up during a SAVE command. There is a lesson to
be learned here. Cop this lot:

SEN 'Stretched «*t * t«l«JL r jo 1 ' 1
routine ny J.P.Garner (Hi «'»"
ty JosT 1937

Rtf! 'seciian height ’S the ™
if pixel tines an old pi*^ Unt
f text takes up L , , , ,

\ r£N band height is tv* hei0r ,

□ ael tines of each b&nd of ro, J J
P try « for SH and 4 for AH nr 4 a

nd l or 10 ana 3

5 Rtfl ’Slight changes by VAX for 46

owners , .

3 INPUT 'section heignr ;■
a INPUT 'band height^-dsp , t

l If h>50 Ok T,<1 OR dsp<i o* ^ T

hen hn=T0;dss>=3

!0 BOMElVl** M:* , * per *:*»E 8

9E Dll* '(.4^1001 ■j-.t.ijpY

m FOR a-1 TO b;i M ' a)-D ' m

Ion iq=2 to niUb^n-itb-i.ni-JQ

r 3=2 TO U:itb,a) = i(b-^ :HE *
TiHEKT

126 Uxt=l:TAG

% ri" .,*=«« , h

» FOR .-J» T» !«-€>*•«» -1* h

16® FOR b=1 TO h STEP 2
1TB 0*161H 78,a-MMW ,*-*>* b 3
1&0 PICT ajee.cTUse eSAPHKS P-N

185 "Th* VSlTR * '* n ,j g Vt* ( nll * d

-bSrS£%ss

r;:PLQTH @,M*P fllNT K ' E /

200 e =eM: If e^sc-^EN c-c+l.e-'

213 IF t=l5 THtN t 5 1
220 NEXT

m mi

TAGOFF

250 TOR a=1 10 3;IN4 a 1 ' a
260 NEXT

27g FOP a-1 TO 14
m FOR b"l T0 14
1% mil b,i (a^b)
iSB NEXT
310 NEXT

sa*i.u*»..

17/IM1 __

else previously, Anywaiy, this one will tell you
where to go !or send an SAE and I II tell void:

l RSl,Tr 'try finder z y J.P.Earner 19«7
* REff ' rjR / then ignore a LI error ne
usages, press esc&pe till the break
message appears

3 REM Then Eype print hex*fpeek(47i
Hj^^^peekfA??) }' and rm enfy adr
tss uiU appear, if yo u tiien type '

*,aLi Gentry aodress. on screen r,hp 3
rogramine wilt run.

4 REM fur tape type *:TAPE after y

Qu loaded this hut before you

run it.

13 HU IUTWMAl,U t hU,*,rt,cd

12f ^^^5,74,0,2a, 74

/B^fd^Bj / bc / 22^r6 / 0^cd / 7a,|>c # c9,en

20 a -£ 4 3

■ Li RI.AD h5:1F 63- end’ THEN (SOTO 60
^ POKE a j V ft L(' + bS3
50 a-a+?:GDT0
60 INPL'7 nane’;al
70 POKE S71,LEN(aS)

S3 FOS a =1 ro LE«(aM:PB« J«4t a ,fl S C(
RID!(UPPfRS(aS) ,a,1) ):SIE*T
?0 CALL 443

That onC' is vary pretty, but how s-bout
something useful, I hear you say. Well, Joes' stuff
includes this wee utility to find out where
machine code programs are going to go, and
how long they are. this sort of thing is one of the
basic needs of a hacker, and is included in most
"toolkits", but this might get one or two of you
off to a flying start:

1 RtfTAddress and Length nbde r -■? J '

. 5lS ,r "Vr 'up. type s,w >'

' E\.v. loafed UH dot '□«fQ re y«o

16 GITS

,0,cd,73,bCpC9*fnd

ll REftD^bS-: IF bt->nd' THEN 6010 6*

IS a,ml MdS'

W a=a + 1;CC-T0 3®

60 I'NPLJT 'riame j&S

emnered to chec’n sun tMs one ,
ELSE {ALL

1.3B6B tLS^R'H^PalN,'SPRINT
10f5fl PRINT 'aodr& jHEXStKtHi

p£EK{873)*m)

After finding out where code goes, il
sometimes helps to know where you have to
jump to to make the code work. You see. not all
programmers (especially the hairier ones'' Starr
their code at the beginning, but frequently start
half way through, or just after their date, or leap
into a block of code that they loaded somewhere

Oh orright, now a gamesy pokey kins. There
wuz a Storm poke, but we've run that one more
often than 1 care to remember, so well run Death
Wake. Pleasant little zippy title eh ? Put ie
rewound tape in ze relevant hole and run zis;

'r&xsxs

CUD ED*

2B Wh

g / 2M*' l2 ' cd ' S3 ' 1 ^' cd ' 7 yb

30 DMA C9jrEND

« «««■"IS

60 POKE aftLC & +oSj ► a

jj roR^i '^ UNiBi);P0KE S13T+a,fcSC

n we KS«,Uf :«»6 um.UFiwe

4*APACE$(. "Z.V} *■ S T R I'M S'® C -6 j» C H R S '

11 B FOR n=l 10 LEMat) :P0Kt S18»Fta,

Ub "h* 72,65,6T,7MMUF,‘M 9 <j
2,81,72,47,52,77,75,71,'2,8,,8V fJ

' 2,74,79^9,32,END

13 ««W:W »««»■ 5HGN 1 «

15B POKE *' V *LtB*):J=Ml!«7« He
160 nO»E 1:GHL UEIB h

leu’ RCDE 1 ■.PRINT " r es5 ,nv <fj •-
lM „tor stopsTWHILE ISKE75= ■*

EN0:tHU &17*D

Who's been a busy lad then 7 Well, this sort of
prolific panaesthetic progette production cannot

Amstrad User February 1988

Page 2 ■

go unrewarded. Watch your mailbox, Joe, Per¬
haps a game or swatch of discs might escort your
tape home.

Ha har, be says., wiprng the icicles from his
(now! shaggy beard, look wot I've found.
Sgmething from a creature known to alt as Colin
Findlay, which says:"! was going to write in to
Vax, but t decided not to". Cheers a bundle mate!
Didn't stop me from finding it though, did it ? Big
Brudder is Vatchink You, Contents of letter (How
To Wind Spellbound and Influence People)
follow:

Drop the advert. Pick up the teleport key, then
get the glowing bottle. Go to the roof, and pick up
the bottle of liquid and the wand of command.

Wakey, wakey

Then teleport las the teleport pad is in front of
Florin the dwarf, just leave it there for the
moment). Give the bottle of liquid to Florin and
then take it back again as this will replenish your
energy. Command Florin to wake up.

Go to the lift and move to the second floor, Get
the elf horn from Samsun the Strong, and the
mionlir (the hammer! from Eirand Haivelven. Go
to the lift and btow the elf horn and command
Thor to come, Give him the mionlir, and

command him to help.

Thor will smash the control box, fixing it, Get
the white herring, and go to the basement and
cast the spell Fumanticus protectum, which will
allow you to go past the first floor without being
gassed,

Go back to the lift and command Thor to sleep
[to keep him alive) then use the elf horn again
and command Florin to come, Put him to sleep
and get the teleport pad. Once you have found it,
drop it in the lift so that when you are replen¬
ishing energy throughout the game, you can
always come back to the lift, and to Florin
(remember to keep awakening him and putting
him back to sleep).

Get the laser from the ground floor, and go to
the secret tunnel entrance, then blow the elf horn
and command Lady Rosmarto come. When she
arrives, give her the laser and ask her to help. She
will then blow a hole in the wall, revealing the
secret passage.

If you have by now dropped the glowing bottle,
the banshee will have appeared. If you command
him to help, he will give you lots of useful clues.
But now that you have smashed the bottle, how
will you get through the dark room without
getting killed?

The answer hereis simple: Go ana stand in the
sticky liquid and cast the '".Armor's photonicus"

spell. Your armour will now glow, enabling you
to get through the dark room with no problems
whatsoever.

To read the engraved candle you will need the
broken glass (from the smashed bottle!. To get
past the wall give Eirand Halvelvand the trumpet
and command him to help. He will knock down
the wall.

Cast a clover

Pick up the lumps of stone, then take them to
the fourth floor, and drop them a few steps away
from the tower. Go to the pit on the ground floor
and summon Sam sun. Give him the javelin and
command him to help, He will place a platform in
the pit.

Get the shield, the engraved candle and the
four leaved clover. Summon Lady Rosmar, and
drop the clover next to her,

Now cast the candelium iliuminatus spell, get
the crystal ball, the piece of talisman and the tube
of glue, and give them to Florin, Command him
to help and he will make a magic talisman for
you. take it and cast "project physical body", light
the candle to read the ancient scroll.

To read the runestone you will need the book

A CIAPIICS BONANZA

AND TWELVE GOOD

FOR BUYING IT

n A TOP GRAPHICS PROGRAM

1 | Ar the heart of the package is Parrotry Plus our highly
regarded DYNAMIC GRAPHICS program, deservedly
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The package is being used hir many varied purposes including
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The package is very easy and quick to use and you Jon c need to
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n REFRESHINGLY DIFFERENT

I i eThe package offers many exciting new possibilities and
H feballcnges for artists and designers, with end products far more
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THE LIBRARY

R Every package includes our Library disc of ready drawn large
characters for merging into designs to save hours of work, a
useful selection of maps and a set of test and demonstration
drawings for plotters.

_FREE TRACING KIT

fS Supplied with every package - professional artists use it all the
£ I time! The best value drawing aid available!

CT) PLOTTER UTILITY

I I Drives most makes of plotter superbly with glorious coloui
I j text and full scaling options. Plotted drawings are far* far
U sLiperior to those produ ccd by matrix printers and plotters need
not he expensive. Ideal for when quality drawings arc required, for
overhead slides and* for ladies, you can even plot embroidery-
designs direct onto the doth! (The graphics in this ad were created
using Parrotry Plus and a plotter)-, ___

FREE ABC PROGRAM WORTH £12.95

A new C hildretYs ABC program which draws a delightful
animated picture for every letter of the alphabet, A great
—■ demonstration of the varied animation
Parrotry Plus - even if you’re a little old for it!

eliehtfnlS

achievable with

DEMONSTRATIONS

In totali over 60 varied demonstrations are .supplied within the
package, making it almost worth buying for these alone!

ECONOMICAL WITH DISC SPACE

The graphics files created are only 4k Song on average and
can often he as little as lk-

SUPPORT

Treasure Island Software, by not being profligate, is very
soundly based financially and will be around to support it's
products for many years to come.

ra r7\ VALUE FOR MONEY

7/3 DISC GRAPHICS BONANZA OFFER ONLY
// £26,90, (£ 1 extra Europe, £2 Rest of World please)* For all
—"J CPCs. Orders sent bv return.

Free ABC offer until 29,2.68.

__ ~ . T ■ ' I

Treasure Island Software , 14 Arthur St* T Ampthill, Beds* MK45 2QQ. 0525 40562 l

Page 22

Amstrad User February 1388

HA CK1N ^

■

of runes. Finally, if you use these hints to reach
Gimbah cast the Crystslium Spectralis in hrs
presence. Ta da i (Corny innit ? Shut up.I 1
Meanwhile back amongst the snowflakes a
neophyte hacker is emerging into the limelight,
going by the name of Adam Todd (the one in
Fife!. Due to health reasons, he is no longer acre
to work, and bought himself a 464. All this lot
you're about to see was done on a 464 and
Maxam/A.D.A.M, tapes; no roms.

Busy fella

Mind you, if a guy can hack his way through
this little lot with no more than a couple of tapes,
then there must be someone in a software house
somewhere who might give him a part-time job.
Let's face it, m doing this little lot, he's done more
work than Justin and I have together in this
month!

First one off the Adams production line is a
little number for Kung Fu Master, giving gleat
numer of extla rives. Lewind tape to start and run
routine, ah so:

"~5 flEMOff : TOT^0~

10 FOA B -mH TO £9041
T5 AEAD DS

25 H,C;T0 T =7(}r*r

^ F 0 TOA 19 K THEftf PJtrwr 'AMLTWfR
fR M| IK MU ’:STOP
LOAD”: CUl 43 m
^ L&ABT,i20*0
*5 CALL 89015

50 U7A *5,21^,^1,36,14^1 ,37,BD,J6
55 Mf» 0J,3M*,03,JMa,Et,tJ,i7, 81)

65 M» *«,00,!UM0,01,F2,0t,Et,M
n *ME,E5,11, 0MM i^ 1 /F j /8i

? 5 tm ?1,0?,sa„E5,?1,B0,BS,£5 J ff,fj

9EMksr 9 e ,4 i„ Hne m fgr M #

iL 1 ^ &ut ^tks.n »iU clian,. to.

Still in oriental vein, another pokeyotte for
Yie-Ar Kung Fu that will get any old joystick
moron up to black belt (I've got my red one now,
by the way, so remember to send in only original
pokes, or else IK

ifl WEKORY S-tBJf:TOT=0-
U TOG 0=49000 TO £9027:READ DS
]0 Q=VALD$) :PQK.E -^C

50 iM0T<>V«E THEN PRINT 'EHRUW' : ST
OP

- :s

L 1

Wot else do we have drifting around with the
snow here ? Ah, a lenslok 'blower for Graphics
Adventure Creator. V^y nice Adam, especially as
I fail on lenslok every other time anyway, Unfor¬
tunately, Ed has seen this one and stomped on it.
Still, come the glorious revolution .,,

While we're waiting for it, have another
Ghosts-n-gobtins poke. Yes, I do know that we've
flogged this one to death but Adam's one fixes It
so f s you onty lose lives when you fall into the
pits, so you'll get to see more of those amazing
sprites, Run this one at it, while I lob snowballs at
the wife:

IS PEWOR-1 nWfj'SS'iTtt ' C-KH

in jna p-0 T G

33 l !IrtwitiPit.*inr,iti«si*“ , ««

48 POKE 156*3,80*.

50 ROSE. B8237,Bt9: RE« MNS.tR PHOUt
[ALL 4^000 , , u -iii

78 tm 00 , 13 ,

1,11,9,IS,05

Short one that, so while I get my own back on
the wife for using a mud-lined snowball, you lot
can get on with an infinite lives pokette for Back
to Reality I where's that?!:

Oh yes, I remember, Reality is for people who
cannot face science fiction: vote against VAT on
books, folks f Doesn't the wife scream loudly
when you thrust snowballs down her knickers ?

Thrusting? That reminds me of Adam's next
two pokes (not doing badly, is he?). Pokey kins
number one is for Thrust, of which there is
apparently a version that my last poke didn't
work on. No matter, 'cos this will get it with 50
lives and extra fuel (take it away, Adam):

27,13,13

40 LMD-!TKmTl':TGT=fi
50 fqu B-mU TO B9039:REA1> H
60 B,C

H lf T iOToVlW9 THEN PRINT 'DATA ERR

insiop

110 DAT* S6,71,t>MMJ/ 3i < el) ' C “' i7 ' E

120 JM» F1,El,CS,BC,BC,3E,C3,3I,BC,S

130 DAT* EE,6»,3*iM.9M e 'FS,2UM
He DMA n,a,*F,J7,ii,n,«/«.»-'

The last from the Adam Todd stable this
month, but hopefully not the last ever, is Thrust IL
Infinite lives on this, Have fun:

S(2Ff:B0RS ER sTfiosTT-

08 „ L0MTE peN 1:PI1»T -thrust :i

30 NWW J|r15,20.1 l,1l:yiND(JH«, 15j ;

40 LOAD"' THUST :TOT”0

C- iAL ( 4 # { I

TOT-TOWikEJfT B

mEK“ ( ™ nw lm * «

m cul mm

100 J*» ,0MMI,ff,»u |

1?B e D * U E0 »M^1,Be,8C,3E,(J,?7-,23, 6 J

138 J*™ 'VWMF,77, t E,JU, W , M , e

118 J* U «,IM«,ES,F5,*f,3 B ,, 4/ j 6j j

l50 J 0 ™ a8 ' u 'XMjii,!i,tt,n,i M

it* l,TA

OK Adam, you take the Hack of the Month
Award hands down. We know what you've got,
so we'll get something different. Hope to hear
from you again ]

To round the month off nicely, ACU proudly
(proudly?} presents:

The VAX Guide to Computer Manuals

u I nsert pmwT-ouT i here*-A nd 9*0 had a,

' 8 Removs h from packaging - With crowbar,
hsmfner and hacksaw,

The printout will lo ^ l ;if.[ h i S H RMj 7 ) +-'M-“-

Always turn the appliance off at the mains -

-Cos our cheapo switches don't^work
Boot disc - The one that is hidden inside : the
niasticbap. uncief the packing tape. >n the botto m
left hand cornet of tho monitor packaging which
you have si ung in the bin just before the dustmen

‘Xy damage the equipment - it'll catch fire,

melt, arid then electrocute you.

La computer est la prermete magnifigue * ■ f

hjSTput. French manual m with my

7X):'L ose out own htand of ribbon/disc/
£ “mly result in data loss/egurpment
damage. Threat, threat, threat.

Right, parting shot time, but p esse excuse any
typos this month 'cos it isn't easy typing with
mittens on, A word of advice: Don't eat yeilow
snow, - Vax fit Suz

Amstrad User February 1983

Page 23

R.S.D. WILL SEE YOU'RE WELL CONNECTED

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S way Dr id 3 trey £44,00 ttway Cantiwis 1 to 3-**y Para

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soft TELE
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SCOOP PURCHASE II
FOR THE NEW YEAR

Soacia leasers Csk Casa.

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75p P&P IN UK, Access & Visa accepted. Please add 15% VAT to all orders. Cheques made payable to 1

R.S.D. CONNECTIONS LTD Dept AU2, PO Box 1, Ware, Herts

Jj jk I Tel: 0920-5285/66284 [ i

■ Trade, Educational & Export enquiries welcome Telex: 2G58?i monref g ref 72:magioo2i3

THE THREE BEARS

For ages 5 to 10 years
Amstrad 664, 6128.

Disc only. Price £19.95

Write for free Educational Catalogue.

Accws/Maalflrchargei'EuiDcanl/BariJlaycardTVlsa Expiry dale

CanS No i I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 1 I i _l
] Cheque/PO mads payable to School Sollware Lid.

My Machine.............— ... . ..Tlltes .....

Maine ______

Address _ i __.____

Code

Page 24

Amstrad User February 1988

► If 1 1 I «

1 ^

Pro Ski Simulator Code Masters

1,99

It may be the time of year for ski games, but our
tame instructor didn't think much of this simple
game Certainly no piste de resistance.

100

2 ▼

Grand Prix Simulator Code Masters
1.99

Still in the chart this establishes the Oliver twins as
Code Masters number one programming teem.
Why buy Super Sprint when this is bettor and

Cheaper?

3 ^

Joe Blade Players

1.99

Simplistic Mode 1 wender-around-the prison
game. 2D sprites, includes a frustrating juggle-the-
ietters pu^lft to prime a homo.

4 ^

World Class Leader-board US Gold
9.95

rresh air, exercise, getting aw By from i? a 1 • All the
excuses golfers use to justify their hobby fall hat
win so it comes to the home computer version. Still
it's a good, relaxing game.

5 ▼

Dizzy Code Masters

1.99

Cute spntes don't hide the tedium in the Oliver's
flickery muki-room [gun-t, The market share drop of
85 to 54 points shows, that this has not been a
popular title.

6 ^

Soccer Boss Alternative

1.99

You too enn be Captain Bob Maxwell, control the
whole first division if you like. No options so buy
teams horn, rock stars though. Simple but
absorbing.

T'k

Indiana Jones US Gold

9.95

Arcade conversion lime 3 gem. Competently coded
version of the game of the game of the film. 1 think
I'll wait for the T-Shirt,

8 ►

BMX Simulator Code Masters

1.99

One of the best-selling Amstrso games ever. Cyc¬
ling simulator best played with a friend - a good,
fun game with a low price. Quite similar to Grand
Prix simulator

9 |k

Renegade Imagine

8.95 '

A game which has been brilliantly programmed by
John B rand wood w th graphics by Mark Jones, but
lacks taste. Horrific and violent This month's
fastest faller

10^

Six Pack Hit Pack

9.95

Barg am compilation with 1942 (OKI, Split Per¬
sonalities [very addictive). Scot by Doo (cute anti
confusing),. Anti rad (pretty and difficult). righting
Warrior [Over-rated bui good) and Jet S-etWiily li

11 •

Six Pack 2 Hit Pack

9,95

A better bargain compilation with Eagles 'lest
(WW2 Gauntlet), Batty [great breakout game), ACE
(Under-rated flight simShockway rider iGory but
fun). International Karate and iightforce.

12^

Paperboy Elite

8.95

Hugely popular gams which shows that quality ts
more important than meeting deadlines. No sound,
but plenty of thrills and spills. Avoid the road - it's
dangerous.

«▼

Cricket International Addictive

1.99

This game misses all the important things about
cricket - the drug scandals, “he biased umpires and
the ball-by ball: on radio 4. Good stuff for stalwart
fans,

14^

International Karate Endurance

2.99

Also available on Hit Pack, fs unusua ; to find one
game in the chart twice. Better than most, but when
you've a shelf groaning under the weight yf
hghtmg games who needs another?

15^

Barbarian Palace

9.99

Slack and Hay, fighting gam# where decapitation is
the aim of the game, Heads you lose. Slick coding
and packaging made this a real bit.

16 •

Rigel's Revenge Mastertronic

2.99

Two pad space cop gam#. Play a pixellated double
agent in this great game qn Mastemonic's Bulldog
label.

17 ▼

Super Robin Hood Code Masters

1.99

Rescue maid Marion in this almost excellent
budget escapade. Fun to play but no cigar, Ladders
and pialforms format.

'18 •

Alpine Games Atlantis

2.99

Winter Olympics simulation. Five events: Skiing,
ski jump, biathlon I'a very boring event to watchj,
speed skating and bobsled Win gold medals. Who
needs to go to Canada?

19|«

Road Runner US Go/d

9.95

Beep Beep: Somewhere ins-de the tiny box in the
m ddle of the screen is a game. OK graphics, nsff
plot- Nut one of the greatest machines,

20j^

Ollie and Lisa Firebird

1 99

What's this doing in the chart 7 It's been out ages
Still, it r s e good game and really deserves a chart
place, even if it is right at the bottom,

Non-mover Up Down Nsw entry

Anistrad User February 1388

Page 25

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CLINIC

David Foster, Agony
Uncle to the Amstrad
community solves mo
problems with serious
software.

Y OUR questions keep flowing in loon-stop,
please l\ and once again, from the latest
batch it appears that printers are a con¬
stant source of trouble, Perhaps not so
much the printers as the fact that most people are
having trouble getting them to do what they want
from within a particular program.

The main reason is the relative lack of stan¬
dardisation between the control codes that the dif¬
ferent makes and models of printers require. This
is frequently made ail the more incomprehen¬
sible by the fact that a lot of printer manuals are
either written in Japlish or the examples given
relate to a different version of Basic.

Hopefully I will devote some time to trying to
sort out some of these problems in a short separ¬
ate article in a future issue, but for now I'll look at
a few problems related to specific programs and
printers.

Mini Office II

G,M. Yearling has a prob¬
lem with Mini Office II
when he tries to us# the fl
key to send printer control
codes to the word
processor. The instructions
say to ‘'follow the symbol by the codes you wish
to send, separated by commas and terminated by
any non-numeric key",

He is trying to send the codes to turn on WLQ
print mode on his DMP3QQB and the codes
required according to the printer manual are:

CHR$!'27)+ r Y r +CHRSf1)

He is attempting to type this in after typing J f 1 1
and then finishing off by typing a letter to termi¬
nate the codes. In fact ail that is required is to

press the fl key on the numeric pad which will
produce a ’ in the document and then type in the
various numbers (only numbers may be used!
required, separated by a comma and finally a
letter to terminate the codes,

In the case of NLQ, the’sequence is press fl on
the numeric pad, then type in:

27,120,1 X

The 120 is the Ascii value of x, and the X at the
end is the non-numeric character that Mini Office
requires to finish the code. This would normally
be the first letter of the text that you wanted to
print in NLO. On screen it will appear something
like:

*27,120,1 This is the start of NiLQ

One problem with this method of entering prin¬
ter codes Is that even though they are not primed,
each character used in the code definition is
printed as a space, with the result that in the
above example the printed text is spaced across
the page by the nine characters of the code.

This can be avoided in most cases by making
sure that when you want to use a code sequence
you use it at the end of the previous line of text,
or on a separate line. The spaces will not then be
obvious,

M.D, McGuade is also having trouble with Mini
Office II when used with his DMP20GQ printer. In
his case, when using the word processor he
cannot get it to print the correct number of lines
on a page.

With a setting of 66 for page length for his
continuous stationery, he finds that if he specifies
more than one copy to be printed the second
copy comes out one line out of position.

When the first copy is completed, it appears
that Mini Office II provides one too many line
feeds and makes the page length up to 67 lines;

So far I haven't found a solution to the problem,
but I shall take if up with Database Software and
hope that we can find a solution,

At the moment, the best I can suggest is not to
try to print multiple copies with continuous
stationery. With single sheet stationery the prob-
lem is not apparent as you set each sheet's pos¬
ition individually.

Redefining printer characters

John Harper is an astrolo¬
ger, uses the Astrocatc pro¬
gram and is having trouble
with redefining s number
of characters on his Epson
FXSO printer. He is using an
8 bit printer port and finds that while nearly all of
the characters are correctly redefined, two are
not printed correctly.

He assures me that the authors of Astrocalc say
their program isn't causing the problem, KDS,
manufacturer of the printer port, says it IsnT a
problem with the port and Epson says that as the
other characters redefine correctly, it cannot be
the printer.

Unfortunately I don't have one of the 8 bit prin¬
ter ports, so I cannot test this out on a CPC, but
Mr Harper sent a listing of the Basic pro gram that
redefines the characters.

To test out the definitions, I loaded the data
into a computer with an 8 bit port and everything
worked correctly, but on looking more closely at
his program I find that at the start it tries to
redefine and use certain of the characters without
first copying (he character set into ram, so that it.
may be redefined. The effect of this is that

►

Amsirad Us&r February '9S&

Page 27

CLINIC

Z_ /

because the codes cannot be used by the printer,
they are sent to the printer as characters instead
and later in the program, when the characters are
used, they print incorrectly, as they haven't been
defined. I think that he will find that when he
removes the offending lines the problems will
disappear. Remember that if you want to redefine
characters on a printer there are three things that
must be done:

# Send codes to copy character set into ram.

♦ Send codes required to define each character.

• Send codes to activate the ram character set.

Sorting with Masterfile 3

I have had a number of
enquiries about using
Masterfile 3, some of which
I have already answered in
previous columns. George
Young from Glasgow uses
Masterfile 3 to keep a record of competition of
results for about 150 people who might have
taken part in between ten and a dozen events out
of a choice of 25 events.

His problem is that while he can do this with
Masterfile, he finds that having to sort the results
for each event is a somewhat laborious process
due to the fa ct th at even i f only a cou pi e of peo p I e
took part in a given event, when Masterfile sorts
records it sorts every one, even if it is currently
un selected.

It is true that this is perhaps the weakest feature
of Masterfile, but with a little bit of thought 3 nd
ingenuity if can be made to carry out the task
quite well. Having said that, it is only fair to say
that a database that maintains indexes of speci¬
fied fields would probably be more suitable.

Anyway, Mr Young has Masterfile, so how can
he make the best use of it in order to reduce the
sorting time as much as possible? The solution is
to look at the data from a different angle, I would
make use of the relational aspect of the program
and keep all the competitors names in parent
records, fly doing that, I need to enter the name
of each competitor only once, no matter how
many events he is in.

In this case I would define fields for the data¬
base as shown in figure 1. Having done so you
should enter up the names of all the competitors,
only filling in the Parent and Marne fields. The
next thing is to design a report format to display

the results. This should only contain the Result
and Name fields, in my case, both on the same
line and spaced across the screen. The Record
depth in the Geometry, I set to 1,

Data can now be entered. The first field offered
for input is the Result field and either the pos¬
ition, or the distance achieved, should be entered
according to the type of event.

The trick here is to make sure that you precede
al! distances with a negative sign, The reason for
this will be apparent in a minute. Next is the
Event field, and this may either be entered as a
short abbreviation each time, or you can go into
Basic and use the KEY command to define a key
to produce the required text. For example:-

KEY 128 “High Jump"

If Masterfile is then restarted with CALL
RESUM, every time the Event field appears it is
only necessary to press the ft) key.

The third field requiring input is the Child field
and the abbreviation that you chose for that
competitor when you entered the parent records
should be entered.

Once all the data for the various events has
been entered, it is time to sort the data file into
order and this should be done on the Place field
and Ascending order and Numeric sort selected,
Because of the way that Masterfile sorts data,
the negative figures will be at the top of the list,
with the "most negative'' numbers first. Positive
numbers will then follow in ascending order,
Finally, you can display the results for an event
by selecting the Search option and L!selecting
all records before selecting on the Event field
using a String Scan search and the name of the
event. If you now go to display mode, you will
find the competitors for the specified event fisted
in either place order or distance jumpedrthrown
order, depending on the event.

The only snag with this is that if you selected
no decimal points for the Result field in the
format, then you will not see the number of
centimetres jumped. Gn the other hand, if you
selected decimal points, then the placings will'be
shown with two trailing zeros,

The solution is to duplicate the formats and
have one with decimal places, the other without,
and then use the appropriate format for the type
of event. If the - sign in front of the distances
offends, it can be obliterated by specifying 3
heading field containing only a single space as
the heading and positioning it over the minus

Many other things can be done to pretty it all
up, such as altering the heading text for a format
before printing it, so that it gives full derails of the
event, but it does demonstrate how with a little
ibit of thought il is possible to get round most
problems. Using the system described, it means
that the data only needs to be sorted once for all
the events, which should solve Mr Young's
problem,

Kevin Morgan is having trouble with the Laser
Basic Compiler, While he can save data to disc
using the PRINT#9 command, he can't manage
to read it back in with INPUTtfS. Instead of
reading the data from the data file, it waits for it
to be typed in at the keyboard. I don't know this
program and understand that it is no longer avail¬
able, so if anyone knows 3 solution to Kevin's
problem, please let me know.

Educational troubles

Ruth Newbury writes n
about a 11 sorts of pro b lems
she is having. She pur¬
chased her CPC6128 in the 1^,
hope that she could use it
to help with the administra-
lion in her job as a teacher. She is having great
trouble making sense of the manual, which she
finds full of jargon and has come to the con¬
clusion that she will have to buy programs to do
the jobs she wants, rather than write her own.

Unfortunately, there is little that can be done
about the use of jargon in computer manuals,
particularly with regard to learning Basic, and it
requires a considerable amount of time to be
sufficiently competent at programming to be able
to write any programs suitable for serious use.
You have to both learn the language and the
principles behind the design of the program you
want to write.

She has purchased Mini Office II and has man¬
aged to make some sense of that, but is unable to
get it to do what she really wants.

Mini Office II is undoubtedly good value for
money, but it does have severe restrictions for
use in many cases and the only real solution is to
look at other programs that concentrate on one
aspect only and provide more flexible and
powerful facilities.

I would suggest that she ought to consider
buying a separata database, a word processing
program and a simple accounting program. My
recommendations would be Masterfile 3, Pro-text
and one of the simple accounts programs, such
as Money Manager. Having got them, I would
suggest that she ought to concentrate on one of
them and get to know it thoroughly before
moving on to the next.

If any teacher readers use their CPC to keep
records of pupils, grades and results, depart¬
mental accounts or create their own worksheets
for use by pupils, please get in touch with me and
let me have the details, so I can pass on any

Data

Ref.

Field

Name

Type

Notes

Result

Numeric

To contain details of place or distance.

Event

Non-numeric

To describe the event.

child

Non-numeric

Child link to person's name. Initials of
person used as link.

parent

Non-numeric

Parent link. Contains the initials that
will link with the name in the record.

Name

Non-numeric

The full name of the competitor.

Figure 1: Fields
required for
Mesierfile 3
database So
record competition
results

Page 28

Amstrad User February 1988

BrunlLlord

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spelling checker .,, very easy to use datafile* - CWTA
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Tis-Bpell hot a ttffllaily ttoappointino pertormance The text of our
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Amstrad User February 19B&

Page 29

TASWORD 6128

THE WORD PROCESSOR FOR THEAMSTRAD CPC 6128

Tas-diary

THE ELECTRONIC DIARY

TASWORD464-D

TAS-DIARY for the Amstrad CPC 6128, 664 and
464 with disc drive disc £13,90

Keep an electronic day-to-day diary on disci
TAS-DIARY features a dock , calendar and a
separate screen display for every day of the
year. Each year stored on disc includes a memo
pad and several note pages. TAS-DIARY rf an
invaluable aid to keeping records, reminders,
and arty other data which is related to that
most valuable commodity of ours - timeI

TASWORD 6128

THE WORD PROCESSOR

MSIWflD 6128 for ffa* Amitattf CPC 6128

disc £2**$

Brilliant value for money.

AMSTRAD ACTION December 1985.
A powerful and easy to use word processor and a
superb data merge program.

AMTIX December 1985.
TASWORD 6128 is the word processor especially
developed to utilise the extra memory in the CPC
6128.

The program usesAL L the additional 64K of memory
in the CPC61284S text space. This means that text
fifes can be around ten thousand words bng.
TASWORD 6128 includes a built-in data merge
program. Mail merge, in which a letter is printed any
number of times, each individually addressed to a
different person, is just one of the applications of this
powerful facility.

The notepads are a unique fed lure of TASWORD
6128. Four separate notepads are available. Typing
reminders and storing letter headings are just two
possible appiica tions for the notepads.

Up to one thousand characters can be stored in ten
user definable keys allowing commonly used words,
sentences, or even paragraphs to be typed with a
single keypress

TASWORD 6128 has comprehensive customisation
features. These allow many of the program facilities
to be changed to personal requirements. A
customised program can be sa \red and includes the
notepads and user definable keys.

TA SWORD 6128 is fully compatible with TAS-5PELL
and TASPRINT. It will also read in data from
Masterfile 6128. It can ei/en be used to enter and edit
your o wn Basic programs.

With all standard and many extra word processing
facilities TASWORD 6128 is the most powerful ofthe
TaSWORDS, for the Amstrad CPC computers.

THE WORD PROCESSOR - WITH MAIL MERGE!

TASWORD 464-D disc £ 24,95

This is the new TASWORD especially developed to
utilise the capabilities of the CPC 464 and 664 disc
drives. The additional facilities include a larger text fife
size and automatic on -screen disc directories
during save and bad operations. A major new
feature is the mall merge facility. This gives multiple
print of your standard letters, forms, etc., with each
copy containing, hr example, a name and address
automatically taken from a disc file con taining the
data. This data cjn be entered using TASWORD
464-D, or prea ted using the Masterfile Program
Extension package. A powerful and useful
conditional printing facility is included - parts of a
document can beprin ted according to user-specified
criteria. TASWORD464 -D will only run on, and is
only supp lied on, disc.

THE SPELLING CHECKER

TAS-SPELL disc £16.50
for the Amstrad CPC464 and664 running
TASWORD464-D and for the CPC 6128 running
TASWORD 6128

Spelling mistakes and typing errors Spoil any
document whether it is a private letter or your la test
novel. With TAS-SPELL you are free to be creative in
the confident knowledge tba tyour spelling won't let
you down.

TA5-5PELL checks the spelling of TASWORD464-D
and TASWORD 6128 text files. TASS PELL has a
dictionary of well o ver twenty thousand ivo rtfs which
it compares with the words in your text. If a word is
not recognised then the relevant part of your text is
displayed with the suspect word highlighted. You
can correctthe word, ignore it (itmightbe a name), or
e ven add it to the TASSPEL L dictionary.

Please note tha t TAS-SPELL will only work with
TASWORD464-D and WWt

Tasword

Upgrades

TASWORD464 and Amsword owners: send your
original cassette or disc (not the packaging) as proof
of purchase and £13.90. Your origin ai will be
returned together with TASWORD 464-D or
MS WORD & 128 on disc.

TASPRINT 464

THE STYLE WRITER

TASPRINT464cassette £ 9,90 disc £ 12.90

A must for dot-matrix printowners! Print vour
program output and listings in a choice of five
impressive print styles. TASPRINT464 utilises toe

graphics capabilities of dot-matrix printers to form,
with a double pass of the printhead, output in a range

of five fonts varying from the futuristic DA TA -RUN
to the hand writing style ofPAlACE SCRIPT.
TASPRINT464 drives the dot-matrix printers listed
below and can be used to print AMSWORD/
TASWORD 464 text files. TASPRINT464 gives your
output originality and style. Completely compa title
with the 664 and 6128.

Tasword a64

THE WORD PROCESSOR

TASWORD 464 cassette £19,99

Jl There is no better justifies tion for buying a
464 than this program "
POPULAR COMPUTING WEEKLY,
NOVEMBER 1984

Your464 becomes a pro fessional standard word
processor with TASWORD 464. Supplied complete
with a comprehensive manual and a cassette which
contains both the program and TASWORD 464
TUTOR. This teaches you word processing using
TASWORD464. Whether you ha ve serious
applications or simply want to team about word
processing, TASWORD464 and the TUTOR make ii
easy and enjoyable.

TASCOPY 464

THE SCREEN COPIER

TASCOPY464cassette £ 9,90 disc £ 12.90

A suite of fast machine code screen copy software for
the CPC464.664and6128. Print higi --resolution
screen copies in black and white anoafso large
'shaded'copies with different dot densities for the
various screen colours. TASCOPY464also produces
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sheets which can be cut and joined to make the
poster.

TASPRINT464 and TASCOPY464 drive the
folio wing dot-matrix printers:

AMSWDDMP1 MWmMAM STARDMPSQVSStS SMMACP-W

£PSONfX*B TAILYW-SO SROIWt.m COSMOS#)

£6OVM-90 SRpnstRWm DAlACfiAHmfQ TIWHMPXXQ

ffimm-atfTmta hscpc-soss-n da r.*cp.mm»

TAS-SMGW

main)

3 SOFTWARE E

Availably from good stockists and direct from:

TASMAN SOFTWARE LTD. r SPRINGFIELD HOUSE, HYDE TERRACE,. LEEDS LSI 9LN. TEL LEEDS {0532} 438301

Kyou do ntrf iralf ftj e&f out (fns m a ran nr timpiy write out your order and pout to TASMAN SOFTWARE, DEPT ACO, >PRSNCEltLD HOUSE, HYDE Ti RRACE,

7 A 5 ltyOfiO PC The Word Processor £ 29.95

TA 5 WORB PC DemOPStra tion Disc £2.00

TASPRtNT PC with t wenty five fonts an da font designer £29,95

AH prices include VAT
and post and packaging

n /IIT 7 TaSWORD 8000 The Word Processor £24,95

mfmf TA3-SPELL 8000 The Spelling Checker £16,50

M f f TASPRINT8000 The Style Writer {with 8 fonts) £14.90

FOR THE CPC 6128 AND PCW 8256/8512

THE SIG!\ MAKER FOR THE CPC 6128 A \D PCW8256/85

Produce and print your own signs, posters,
banners and large notices to get your message
across with maximum impact.

• Four distinctive lettering styles • Characters at any height
from one inch to the full width of the paper • Italic printing

• Underlining • Constant or proportional letter spacing

• Automatic kerning • Line centering • Eight shading
patterns • Print either across the paper in the usual
direction, or along the length of the paper to
produce large eye-catching banners and notices

• Print a border around the sign, in one of the
optional sha ding patterns if required

• A range of options to select
print quality

Tai-si^n drives nearly ail dot-matrix printers including those made by.

Adma te

c.anpn

Mannesmann Tafly

Shriwa

Amstrad

Obzen

MFC

Smith Corona

Asteth

Datech

Wfiyfru/y

Sord

Brother

Epson

Panasonic

Star

C Jto*

kaga- Taxan

Serkosha

The illustrations on this
page are reduced ham
full-size TASSfON
output.

I enclose a chrqut/PO made payable to TASMAN SOP TWARE L td OR charge my ACCESS/VISA number

fTEM

NAME

i AUDflFSS

PRICE
£ -_

Outside Europe aod£2 ODper Terr- jirrrUA'

_ £

TOTAL £

Telephone Access/VfSi order* leafs (0532)438301 _

ffsasp seed ms a TREE Tatum brochure desenb/ng yOt/t product for (SM/AmstraU PC Q PCW Fj Amtftad CPC {2 Spectrum □ OI O □Commadw?' M {J T.*f Tir'‘.ran_

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our prices postage and vat

The Advantage policy:

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" We oHti tc despatch all orders by ihe navi working cfey
* We refund payment if you are ncH satisfied For any reason

order by pMt or telephone Wa accept Sterling dieques, Access £ Visa Pleese send a SAE
with all enquiries. Remember tc stale which computer you ere using.

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Members may wdutf £2 ntf each item below. Overseas please add £3 per eomprler

* MIX t OOMPHEft-FuI Kemighai^Rrlctiie imptementitien with tutorial .£29 95

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The best from the Public Domten, tailored tor Amelrad Compute™ rtmnirtg CP/M+ reid My
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APPLICATIONS

* TEXT EDITOR- Easy to use lull scran editor with automatic word-wrap page breaks

control. Genera tat ASCII flies - ideal tor compiler source rode.£7.00

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un-lina help. Disc also contain* Inventory Database.....,.,,..,£7,00

' FIXED ASSETS LQG-Recora up to SSO items and the* value Useful tor home inventory,
insurance, stock taking COnteSl. Includes terms management and sort routine.....£7.90

* VIDEO CLERK-'Ktap track of your video coHection with this powerful database system.

Features 4 sort options arid forms mwiagement plus extensive dOCvneriUlwn. £7.00

F STD CODE6QOK-AII the UK codas in numeric order with corresponding ercranges. ...£7.M

* ROW DESKMASTER Dtres-top appotfrintanto calendar, cafcuialor memo-writer, card hto

database, Disc includes label pnnter, home scoounl*. mortgage cfeeutator, weather torecasbr,
unerase tar rtave M, window generator..........^...£7,00

* ROW GRAFKIDS-USar-desigmd graphics drawing program screen font designer + reedy-to-

use tant seb. Btamofph-tascintilng graphic dsmo of natural efeeetion .,,£7.00

* CQMMUNICATIONS-4JK Modem 7 tor CFG and PCW, KermiL MEX and utilities .£7.t»

UTILITIES

* COM PLEAT UTILITIES-Newsweep - one key erets copy rename print. Superzap disc edlor
- adit by sector or file; Unerase erased lil-us; DtaOtet A - MUH-CftOioe disc formatter, ntfere 1 TBk
tteia Formal tar PGW and 5 25" second drive formatting; Fteadfarite PCW discs on CPC. Screen

Dump; Passwwd, Easy lister and mot#,,..,..«......£7.00

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umbos fox archiving and saving dec space, File dating system, Squeeze arid Unsqueeze Fie

compression tor saving up lb 40% dteo apace .. . ....£7 DO

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' THE Z m PROGFtAMMER-ZM AsB4mhtet.iDiMM«mbfef, 2% Debugger. ISO Library. £6%
DuasHembtar, zso id Bbso translator and BHOtiabd utedae......£7.00

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25k Of ttoeumwilation. Produces anecutebie COM fees .,... £7-00

* C TOOLBOX-An aBidfimiire of C Iduree programs, win thee compiled version*, written tor a

varied al C campilerE............£7.00

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PROGRAMS FOR PLEASURE

4 GAMES COMPENDdUM-Cheu. Oihaito, Mestenmlnd. Sneha. SpaH Awari, Ufa, GoH, Polish
Rang, Maze. Bicntiylhm*, Word Search Puzzle Maher, TicTacTu.......£?.M

* ADVENTU RES-ThH famouft DolCSSeJ Cave Athentera ptee Iwo new game*.£7.00

* AMUSEMENTS & DIVERSIONS-^ games, tar PCW BASIC. Startrelu Whi^iwcrd, Under.

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NEW! MONEY MANAGER PLUS £39.95

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For all PC compatibles, suefi as Amsfrad PCI 512 Also available for Amstrad PCW computers.

Financial management software

For Smarfl businessas Satf-employed Dwtofs Femora

Sales Executives Journalists Clubs Chanties

Cofnpany Departments Expense .accounts Home accounts Etc, Etc,

Money Manager Plus is w sasy^to-dse yet pcwerfu I accounting system. It will enable you to record and analyse all your financial transactions, so that you know exactly
where yw Bland and Cad make sensible and informed financial decisions. Check bar* statamenls. monitor cash flow, analyse sources of income and expenditure, make
budget forecasts, prepare financial statements. Keep one step ahead of your bank manager, convince tax and VAT inspectors, avoid nasty surprises!

Money Manager Plus is very much easier and m ore direct to use than other accou nting systems coating many ernes more, and provides leatu res that wou Id be
difficult or impossible to program using sophisticated databasefspreadsheeVgraphics packages, indefinite telephone support is included free of charge, because even
novice computer users require so* littte!

To run the system you just switch on, load Money Manager Plu*, select a data file, make new entries many order that suits you (or amend existing entries), produce a
few reporte to chock the current financial situation, and then save the data tor the next time you need to use ri Vou may hava any numfeer of data files (or sets of
accounts) and store several on one disc. A data file contains 12 months of data, which may be roiled forward month by month,

You may WtoCt cataouriw el accominfl |q account, dtoia and mart, jeg all bank

acoeuFfl witrw*, or all raoloreig «xp*nt*4. or aM ca*h account business expenses etc.)

and produce reports on The screen or primer as Idlows!

* D*tt*fed iWenrentl covering any period, showing ewto qualifyirsg bansacdon wrth 3
running balance.

* Qjanerfy VAT siaiwnerirs showing Input ano Mpm iranssetons setwai'afy with
Lioluntos for aiempl, zero rated, VAT acre, VAT paid and gross amounts, and a
IPrtvrwy with ell tiersievam totals.

* Table* *fBwing tfw totel amounts lor each claw month by month, and trials tar
tirewtHH yew.

* TabJre*hoiMngltouufelor*«hdtat4n*Aich*6Goutt

* TadiM shcreenp tile riiswifmirr , .twktouto dind avWage tMOwK** wrncver

cash flow .roontii&y morflh arid tor If* wttore yaw.

* Bar graphs cri any category month by month

* Pfe tfwta oovaring pny period tar various caca^ories tri entry (PC version ontyji.

Plus; Standing Orders Entries optionally sorted into dale order Item search faciirtiy

Comprehensive Ha Audi Two sets erf realistic pracbce data Indefinite tree telephone support

Money Manager Plus is a development of the successful Money Manager system, of which over 6000 have been sold. It is faster, has a greater capacity, and
includes maty extra features suggested by existing users. The original Money Manager tor Amsurad CPCfPCW computers is still available at £ 24.95
Send cheque or credit card number or phone for immediate despatch (FI ease specify computer model)

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3 Ranch ford Road, London W12 &ND PI - 743 9792 6am-1Qpm 7days a week

Upto 3U0 taparats RfwnBctori* may b* WltTed per month.

Each entry wnfieta at:

tt Th* day ot the month, «9,23(d of JUne

* Accoum number„ ona drf up K 9 Q#flr>*d ay you to wit your nrCumsxariCas
■g \m Barclay*. 2“ Vlfwl,3- C«h «C

# Cheque or ralwartoa numbuf, Bg AflCt 23

* Clare code, one of up to 60 defined by yw to nit ytx* ohaimtanoee
eg pi - Overhead*, al - Rent, 02= H*Mfljghting, o2- Stettonwy etc,
or mO- Motxing, ml --RMrol. m2- Road Tax, m3- MaHenano* «c.

• DeKFvbve text eg, Tw RebBre'', 'Rerogerator, wt

* OplJonN*lnBfe<TwKawTOfkMBneiaraiden!ittiir 1 t#,b-t3upn«M, (^prtwit,«c,

• Account r*aJOdkallgn menrer.

• The WTKXtotof thetranstedton. daratDrCTfldtt.

• Opttonal VAT indtiCBr, eg eeempt, aero, itJl dt pert rated, ti VAT ie ixx rrievarttiimay

be Ignored. _ _

Page 32

Amstrad User February 1988

COMPETITION

3 You may
, oPV the torn* b

; » E

•»rSf 5 - to

pntering ™ ore

entries ^' sa

5 The edUo

dec's' 00 is ,,r

acifamiLPs ii-nt^tc

HZZL

rule BOOK

The win**

itrv opei 2q

rsijsc

lilt be tb e ne

orrect entries
jTauvn.

the

trip

European Championship
finals in Munich

Addictive Games are offering the chance to
win the trip of a lifetime to see the European
championship finals in Munich. You and a
friend could be travelling out there if you
win the final of their Football Manager If
competition.

There are two rounds. The semis are on this
page. You will find two pictures in the coupon
below. There are 10 minor differences. Mark all
10 and you could be on your way to the final

To win this you will have to play Football
Manager If against readers from other
magazines. It may well be the most important
computer game you ever play because only the
player who does best in this league will qualify
for a place in the Munich stadium.

There are prizes all the way to this special
trip. The winner not only gets a chance to take
part in the prize game, he or she will also take
away a copy of the Goal Video which shows
the 1966 World Cup. The runners-up, who no
doubt will be as sick as a parrot; can console
themselves with a copy of the vid,

Name _

Address

Telephone.

1 Send to: ACU Addictive
I Competition, 169 King s Road,
| Brentwood, Essex CM 14 4EF.

L._—

Amstrad User February J988

s occer

rinn 1

Sequel

n fl(1 a you'W be over the m0Ofl
m ' Ws 9 Tmon tJk *«* °' e J n ' s <«ej, ’

\*» Ro * „oo 4 1W R< f" ■«*•*

J ON PITMAN explains the quality of the
workmanship which has produced Match-
day II by saying. "It's the advantage of
having written Match day. And working 120
hour weeks, getting up at nine in the morning
and working until 3 am' r , Jon works hard, and it
shows: Each of his games has taken a theme and
stretched it, polishing and refining. Batman, for
example, was a wonderful game. Just as I was
getting tired of 3D isometric games the caped
crusader flew ; n to revive the format. Batman was
clever, addictive and funny. When he visited the
ACU office Jon said that there had been plans to
put a Robin character in the game and that Bernie
Drummond, the man behind all the graphics, had
gone as far as to design a Robin sprite.

The idea was that Robin would appear in a
room at random, one in 2,000 or more times, so
some people would never see him and others
would insist they had. You can imagine a huge
argument over the existence of Robin. Unfor¬
tunately, memory constraints meant that this had
to be dropped.

Batman lost its mantle of beslaver 3D isomet¬
ric game to Jon and Semis's subsequent project,
Head Over Heels. This took the idea a few steps
further - you could control two characters which
explored the same maze. Each had special prop¬
erties, so they had to meet to solve some puzzles
and were only able to visit other puzzses when
they were separated.

If you haven't played Head over Heels then you
should lo-ok it out- it's one of the all time classics,
And so to Matchday If. Football games have

always been popular, and often they have sold on
the strength of the game on grass - not the game
on the screen. So as s package which has the
appeal of both,, Matchday II is bound to be a real
winner.

Jon's hallmark has become the detailed menu
entry system used on games like Batman, The
main menu offers more than just a one or two
player option - but Matchday 11 also offers a twin
player game, where you can join forces with a
friend and take on the computer.

When you pass the ball the computer tries to
sort out who has kicked it and pass it to the other
player. Using this caused more arguments in the
Amsfrtfrf User office than any other feature of the
game, a part perhaps from the result - Ocean
Blues 4 Amstrad Users 0.

Matchday will only support one joystick
because the CPC does funny things if you try to
use two. Meaning that the player using the keyboard
could not run diagonally. This problem is solved
by defining the 9 to be both up and right, the 1 to
be down and left, and so on. There are some
problems involved with defining keys far two
players, but the game instructions explain how to
overcome these.

You can handicap a friendly match by giving
one team any number of goals before you start
each half.

Ocean Blues 4 Amstrad Users 128 but it's only
really useful when two players are battling
against each other.

You can pause the game by pressing Escape,
which gives you a chance to recover from the

strained fingers you get when you press the joy¬
stick too hard. Jon says that he is surprised by the
amount of physical effort most people put Into
the game. It certainly isn't necessary - you won't
get the man running any faster but you might
break the joystick.

While the game is paused you can change tac¬
tics. Because you only control one player at a
time the computer looks after the rest of your
team for you - the tactics menu decides where
the computer should put them, either in attack or
defence. A bit of clever programming ensures
that they don't all run after the ball at once.

On the way to Wembley

In addition to standard friendly games Matchday
I! will run full league or cup competitions. These
are adjusted so that the better you dp in the
league or cup, the tougher the computer's oppo¬
sition becomes. Once you have started a cup or
ieague you can leave, play a friendly and then
return.

Tables let you follow the progress of other
teams - friends playing the parts af other teams,
or the computer. You can choose to watch com¬
puter v computer matches or to just let the
Amstrad tell you the result. Up to seven friends
can take part, making for a very hectic day's play.

The large number of matches take a good deal
of time, so There is a very clever save game
option, A code number contains all The infor-
mation about the state of the cup or league - you
just type this in and start from where you left off.
It's a long number - 30 digits for a league game -

REVIEW

Page 34

Amstrad User February 1983

REVIEW

L _/

hits the player It may be deflected by the body r
headed up or volleyed from the foot, A run., jump
and kick not only looks spectacular, it propels the
ball the greatest distance. Jon has incorporated
what he calls the diamond deflection system
This ensures that the ball reacts in a true to life
manner - Figure I shows how this works.

Even on the computet pitch things aren't
always friendly and the game will allow barging.
You can push another player around with brute
force, but it J s not wise to do this on the hard level
because the computer will push back, and it is
likely to be better than you are.

run time

I have to come dean, I'm not much of a football
fan, I thought Quean of the South was reference
to Edna Everage, but this is a program which
even a person who has never been to a match
will enjoy,

I spent hours trying to master bah control, back
kicks, dribbles and still went back for more
games. This isn't something you can finish, the
more you play the better you get, And the bettor
you get the more you want to play.

Match day II is one of the best, most carefully-
planned and programmed games I've played. It's
not the first and it won't bathe last football game,
but it is the finest.

Ocean 1. Other football games United 0.

but it is much easier than messing around with
saves to tape or disc. This system means that
team names cannot be saved, a pain if you want
to mimic the real league but all in all a better
compromise.

[•J

> *
0 °

—

! i

j'is

<9~l>

;

Figure 1; The t?i iamond cvlectian system. Tfrg ^rratvs
inside the boxes indicate the way the player is running.

The big match

For all the pretty menus the thing which makes
Matchday il the best football game ever is the
way it plays. Jon Ritman has taken a good look at
what the important factors are in the sport. The
first thing you notice is the kickometer. This is in
the middle of the screen, with a mini-kickometer
over the player's head, essential for identifying
which man you are controlling.

There are four strengths of kick, three forward
and one backwards (particularly useful for
tackles). You can select a kick by holding down fire
when the type you want is shown, then run at the
player who has possession - and you should hit
the bail. If it is a back kick the ball will bounce out
and leave you between it and the other player.
Weil that's the theory, it takes a good deal of
practice to get it right,

The other kicks are easier, hard, medium or
soft. If you are running when you kick the ball it
soars up into the air, otherwise it rolls a Song the
ground. When the ball is in the air you must keep
an eye on the shadow. The 2D screen can be
deceptive enough to make you run away from a
bait in flight,

To make things easier for beginners, any level
of kick can be selected, you can turn off back kicks
and just use all the forward options. A similar

selection can be made for your goalie. Normally
you would gain control of the keeper when the
ball approaches, but you can keep him under
computer control.

This will try to ensure the man stays between
the ball and the net- For most purposes the
computer-control fed keeper is better than the
human-control led version, but he wiil be beaten
by a cross.

When the ball has been taken out of play, for a
kick-off, throw in or corner, your man runs to the
side and picks it up. The joystick can be used to
control where it is then thrown or kicked. Each of
the nine joystick positions represents an area of
the displayed field, which allows you to throw or
kick the ball to another player, if the bail lands
below the players knees he will gain possession.

One of the things no football game had done
before is calculate true headers and deflections, if
the ball is above waist height and near the player
he will jump when you press fire.

What happens then depends on where the

Amstrad User February '!9&8

Page 35

PROGRAMMING

L /

Caught in
a trap

Jeff Walker shows how to prevent crashing
into errors by picking up banana skins

I T can be great fun programming your com¬
puter, especially when you can impress your
parents or friends by making it do
something ultra intelligent. You know r the
sort of thing that makes them even more convin¬
ced that all computers should be knocked on the
head before they take over the human race - as
if they haven't already already already ...
thump Hmmm, Must get that seen to,

One of the more impressivej and more intel¬
ligent, features of locomotive Basic is its
excellent error-trapping facility,

ON ERROR GOTO, to give r 'ii r ' a name, is
followed by a line number, and it does exactly
what it says it does: If an error of any kind occurs
while the program is running, then instead of
upsetting the user by crashing, it whizzes off to
line so-and-so to carry out whatever instructions
it finds there.

So let's get straight down to some program¬
ming with a simple but very useful example.
One of the most boring questions CPC 464s ask
you when they are running utility type programs
is J 7ape/Disc?" every time you want to load or
save something. Obviously, if you've no disc
drive fitted then you'll want to save to tape, but
those of us lucky enough to have a disc drive will
naturally want to use it.

One way around this would be to ask the ques¬
tion just once r right at the beginning of the pro¬
gram, but even this is unnecessary, as Figure I
shows.

Line 110 is the one that tells the program to
wander off and check whether a disc drive is
fitted. The first line it hits in the subroutine tells it
to GOTO ins 530 if an error occurs.

Back to normal

If you haven't got a disc drive, an error will occur
in the next line (510!- with the I DISC command,
The statement and line following I DISC are
ignored because control passes immediately,
due to the ON ERROR command in 500, to line
530, where the variable disc is set to FALSE, The
subroutine then returns as normal.

On the other hand, if you have a 664, 6128, or
464 with a drive fitted, no error occurs so line 510
is carried out in full. The ON ERROR GOTO 0

switches error trapping off as we don't need it
any more, line 520 sets disc to TRUE and then
skips past line 530 to return from the subroutine
again, as normal.

All this is invisible to the user, so for the pur¬
pose of this example I've used disc to cause dif¬
ferent messages to appear on the screen.

Grind to halt

Note that error trapping should only be
switched off if you are sure an error has not oc¬
curred. If an error has occurred before you issue
an ON ERROR GOTO 0, then the program will
stop with an error message, just as if you'd never
issued the first ON ERROR GOTO 520. In Figure I,
error trapping is switched off in a part of the
program that can only be executed if an error
HAS NOT occurred.

OK. Before we do any more programming I
want to introduce you to three keywords associ¬
ated with ON ERROR GOTO, Actually, they aren't

really keywords in the command/function sense,
they are variables whose values are set up and
updated automatically by your CPC: DERR, ERR
and ERL.

ERR is the number of the error that has oc¬
curred. Normally this will be zero, but as soon as
an error happens the computer pokes a value into
memory that represents the nature of the error
Similarly, DERR is the number of an Amsdos
error (that is, a disc read/write error}. It is only
available to users with a 664 or 6128.

You can investigate these numbers when an
error happens simply by typing PRINT ERR or
PRINT DERR. A full list of error numbers, and
what they mean, is in your manual.

(Once ah errOF number has been poked into
memory by the operating system, it remains
there unchanged until overwritten by another.
This can cause problems sometimes, but there is
a way around it),

ERL is the line number on which the error was
spotted. Again, PRINT ERL will inform you of the
last line number in which an error happened.

Together with ON ERROR GOTO, these three

Page 36

Am $ trad User February 1933

'"variables'' can be put to good use. The most
obvious use is to trap and report possible typing
errors when typing-in or developing programs.

Sometimes programs set up funny colours and
awkward windows so that when it crashes the
error message is unreadable. In Figure II is an
error trapping routine which will rid you of this
problem.

The routine prints out numbers, the meaning of
which you can look up in your manual; but you
Could just as easily turn it into a routine to print
out messages according to the values of ERH:

IF ERR-1 THEN PRINT'Unexpected NEXT" IF
ERR=2 THEN PRINT'Syntax error" : IF
ERR=32 THEN PRlNT'Broken in"

That's the obvious way, but a more practical
way is to read in an array of 32 error messages,
say msgS(l) to msg$132), from data statements,
and then a simple PRINT msg&ERR) would save
all those IPs and THENs,

What? You didn't know you could use ERR as
an array subscript? It doesn't say anything about
it in the manual? Tut tut. Stay beh ind after school
and write out "I must experiment with Basic"
1000 times.

Back to zero

And, of course, disc users could extend this idea
further to incorporate all the DERR values.

if you have a disc drive you'll need some way
of resetting ERRgndDERRto zero before running
the program each time, otherwise an old error
number could cause the error trap to spit out an
erroneous error number or message.

For instance, say on first running the program
you've just typed-in the error trap spits out a
DERR number. You immediately spot the error, a
bad filename, and correct it, On the next run the
error trap spits out an ERR number, plus the
DERR number of the mistake you've just
corrected.

As I said earlier, even though you've corrected
the mistake that caused the first DERR, its
number is still there in memory, and will remain

Rgijre/: bang Lai

Wdetect ,s

Arnstrad User Febntery 1988

PROGRAMMING

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there until overwritten by a subsequent disc
error, And it's the same for ERR.

You can't reset EAR or DERR by executing a
line like ERR^Q, but you can POKE zeros into the
memory locations set aside by the operating
system to hold the error numbers, Sneaky, huh?

The relevant addresses are shown in the first
four lines of figure II. Play around with them. I
believe the 664 addresses ere the same as the
6128 ones, ! J m sure you'll tell me if they're not.

Of course, the built-in error numbers mostly
cater for errors related to the Basic interpreter
and the disc operating system. But you can also
use ON ERROR GOTO to trap user-errors (bad
input for example 1 by means of customised error

numbers.

These are set up by the ERROR keyword which
is, again, a built-in variable, but this time one you
can alter. You don't use the equals Sign with
ERROR though. The syntax is:

IF <somethinfl> THEN ERROR <number>

The numbers up to and including 32 are re¬
served by the system, but everything else, up to
and including 255, is yours for the taking.

Type ERROR 21 and press Enter-that's one of
the systems. Now type ERROR 33 - it's
"unknown" because we need to introduce it to

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Page 37

PROGRAMMING

/ /

the system in an error trapping routine.

Figure ill is a routine for trapping errors before
the program attempts to load or save using a
typed-in filename. It's a ‘'filename verification"
routine. The actual error trap is between lines
1450 and 1580, and this responds to five cus¬
tomised error numbers invoked in different parts
of the program.

Let's take a look at the first one invoked, ERROR
100, in line 1290- It simply says: If the length of
the filename is zero r then error 100 has occurred.
Because an error has occurred the program
shoots off the error trap, where it carries out the
instructions it finds there.

In the error trap, line 1470 is ignored because
the error number isn't 99 r and then it prints an
error message.

The error message array is set up in the
initialisation subroutine. In this case IVe only
used five messages, so the array is msg$|Q) to
msgS(4),

Each message corresponds to a particular
error, and they are stored in the array in the same
order as the error numbers so we can subtract 99
Ithe lowest customised error number we have
used] from the ERR number to get the correct
subscripts for msgS.

We could just as easily have used msg$(99l to
msg$i 103). but although this makes the program

more readable,, we'd have to dimension the msgS
array to 103 subscripts, which would waste an
awful lot of space as m$g$!Q! to msg$l9S) would
be unused..

After ignoring line 1500 (because the error
number isn't 102 ) and printing a blank line for
neatness, the program iin line 1520I 1 is asked to
go back and resume execution from line 40,
where a GOSUB 1190 starts off the input
sequence all over again, making the program run
smoothly without any crashes.

Ad infinitu m ,,.

If we had left the 40 off after the RESUME, the
program would have continued execution from
where it left off. that is, from the line that caused
the error in the first place. In this case we don't
want that as it would cause another error, and
another error, and another error...

We could aiso have asked it to RESUME ME XT.
which would have made it go back and continue
execution from the line following the one in
which the error occurred.

All three versions of RESUME have their uses,
but RESUME <line numbers is the one you'll
probably use most Think of it simply as a GOTO
- which is what it really is - and you'll have no

problems using it.

For ERROR 99-which is invoked in line 1360 if
there isn't a fultstop in the filename - we do
something a bit clever, Instead of forcing the user
to enter the name again, line 1470 in the error
trap branches control off to a special little routine
to append a default extension (.DAT).

After printing a message and appending the
extension, the program is this time asked to
resume execution from the line following the One
the error occurred in. which is the Return state¬
ment i n th e su bro uti ne we j u mped o ut of becau se¬
ct the error.

In other words, here we've used a customised
error number not only to detect a program error-
the absence of an extension in the filename - but
to actual ly correct the error and carry on the pro¬
gram from where it left off.

With ON ERROR GOTO and its related key¬
words, you can make a program really robust.
There's nothing worse when a program crashes
because of bad t>r silly input by the user

But remember, the best and most intelligent
error traps are the ones that go unnoticed. Error
trapping is an art. Always look on it as such and it
will never become a chore. That's it. Tarra,

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top with , .

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Page 38

Anrtstrtid Usee February 7988

p i

l \ 3m.

Amster's cage is an area of Prestel where Amstrad computer
users congregate. It is a melting pot for ideas. Ask a question
and someone is bound to know the answer. Ian Hoare acts as
referee and has selected some highlights.

From DAVID JAIMDA

Help!! I am having a great deal of trouble with
Kermit on my 6128, I have it working on quite a
few other computers, but with 6128 and Pace
Series 4, all I get on entering it is a string of "cTs.
Any idea if it is the cable, or is my version of
Keren it faulty?

• If you have used Mex with 6123 and Pace, as I
know you have, then it is unlikely to be the cable ,
could it be that Kermit is in Echo mode , and you
are getting feedback?

From MR B DE-LARA

Hello Ian r could anybody help, I hope this
weekend to talk to a SBC with Kermit. I
downloaded KERMIT.COM, KERMIT. EXE and
KERMIT.WS. I have read the file KEF!MIT.WS. I
can run KEHMIT.COM. Rut the KERMIT.EXE I can
do nothing with. Any one know what that one is
for?

Also there is another file which I downloaded,
KERMIT.LOG, Again I can do nothing with. Are
the baud rates already set? If they are , what are
they? If not how do you set them?

The file KEflMIT.WS is not very tfear. It says in
the file that hardware dependent things are kept
in the fifes FLK.H and FLIG.C. ! can't find these
fifes anywhere on the disc or on the BB where I
downloaded.

Could anyone MBX a dimwit ike me with any
information on Kermit. I have a feeling that KER-
MIT.EXE is for another machine. Thanks.

• As .COM is to CP/M, so .EXE Is to MSdos I
suspect that your baud rates should be set from
SETSiO before entering Kermit though MEX for
example does NOT use SiQ, but drives the Pons
directly.

From ANDREW MARGO LIS

Lots of users did ask for Kermit, so that's now in -
and Kermit uses 94 byte packets!

• Thanks for that I haven t used Kermit. Am I
right in thinking that it needs a lot of code to
Implement?

From ANDREW MARGOUS

Indeed, you're right about Kermit using a lot of
code. The COMM+ implementation takes up
about 5k - which is an awful lot for me. And I
haven't put in sliding windows either, though ft
does do all the various checksums; character
quotes, repeated compression - and also does
the server end, If I hadn't been asked about it so
often, I'd have my doubts.

• From what i have been told about the
compactness of your code that is one HELL of a
lob ts it really that good?

From ANDREW MARGO LIS

I actually up the length of the Kermit code - the
protocol itself takes 3300 bytes, and the data
space, the menu and associated code takes 1103
bytes - that's 4403 bytes or 4.3K.

There's a few other extra bits in the latest
COMMr to make it almost 5k bigger, But J
haven't yet looked at shortening it. In the 1st
release the main object was that it worked.

More on the subject of Kermit. It is fashionable
and in demand, partly because it runs on so
many different types of computer (not just
micros).

It wasn't designed either for efficiency or
compactness. It has more in common with tele-
software, in that you don't deal with raw data (as
with Xmodem and derivatives) but with data con¬
verted into packets, with the main object of
making ail the data transmitsbfe over any type of
link. Hence the elimination of control codes and
the smallish packet size.

Unlike a telesoftware down loader, you have to
be able to generate the packets as well as decode
them - and virtually everything that defines them
i s confj gurabls - length, specie I qu ote cha racters,
start of packet characters, type of checksums etc.

And the transmitting end and receiving end can
in theory be using different parameters.

The complexity of the protocol derives partly
from this flexibility, and partly from the nature of
any set of rules for encoding/decoding data.
Whether it's a good protocol or not is beside the
point - it constitutes a standard, which is what
communications is all about.

But if you are logged on to a bulletin board
which offers a choice of download protocols, I
wouldn't choose Kermit over an Xmodem type
by choice - two reasons for It are because even
the best versions with sliding windows and other
frills can only get up to 85 per cent efficiency on
most types of data, and unless you are using a
packet switch system! with a windowing Kermit,
even Xmodem will be faster,

Second reason is that Xmodem type protocols
typically use single ACK5 per block, whereas
Kermit uses an ACK packet of at least 4 bytes -
which means that it is more liable to generate
false errors through acknowledge corruption
than systems that use a singie ACK character.

But com ms software provides a choice of error-
correcting systems, not primarily because people
need a choice of protocols, but in order to
increase the chance that at least one will work
properly with another computer.

That's why Kermit is in demand - good and
bad don't really apply - either something will
work or it won't, and if Kermit works where noth¬
ing else will, there isn't a lot else to say.

From M SALLEH & R TOUW

OK David if you want a working version of Kermit
on ■6128 you may log into my B Board and
download it. I don't know where you are calling
from, but if you are far from London it Is not
worth it. Call now Infotel Bos fOT&BI 33761. See
you there. And also to the user who wants vari¬
ous COM MS software in CP/M may log in as well.

Ams trad User February 7 988

Page 39

FEA TURE

1 _...___ 3 ,

From MR J H RAWNSLEY

Kermit may not be the best file transfer protocol
available, Its advantage is that it has been imple¬
mented on so many machines. The only thing to
remember is it needs SN 1 , but functions happily
with fust the Tx, Rx and Grid wires connected.

I use it daily to transfer messages to and from
our university link to BIT MET. As my machine is a
PCW I cannot help David Janda,. but I would try
connecting each machine's RTS to its own CTS
and just use the two data lines between the
machines,

• Do you think it is very likely that David's string
of Ds could be a cable fault? I am ignorant on
Kermit , but f HA VS to say it sounds like feedback.

From MR J K RAWNSLEY

In terminal mode Kermit does not echo back
received characters, at least not in V4.0B which l
use. So it is hard to see how David Janda has a
feedback loop, especially if he is using a cable
with just 2-3 and 3-2 null-modem connection.
With such a connection I've never had any
problems,

# That's working directly computer to computer ,
I suspect that David is using it via a modem .

From M SAUBf & RTEHIW

David Janda has logged into my board and
downloaded Kermit which I tested with WS4GQ0
and worked fine. I don't see why David couldn't
make if work with his Pace Series 4,

David, did you get OK back when you typed
AT..? Did you set any registers in the Pace
memory which might cause your Modem to act
very strangely to Kermit 1 I can't remember the
co mm and to reset the presetting register on Pace
which has battery backup to store a register.

On WS40QQ I just have to issue a command
AT7 to reset all registers in the Modem to their
default values. If I have no problem with this
version of Kermit, I don't know why you do. If you
do, it could be that your connecting cable is
wronger the modem is faulty, I'm not sure.

Since this version of Kermit on Infotel FI OS has
been set up for a 6128,1 believe there is nothing
wrong with it Sometimes we forget to use

Uppercase letters to enter a Hayes command, if
we always depend upon the software to dial for
us, it might be as well to check it. Try again.

From DAVID JANDA

Hi - re Kermit Well I took the advice of Mohamed
Salleh and logged onto his BE Infotel Ros, Well!
In the four years 1 have been writing as a free¬
lance journo fcomms asp.) I have logged on to
hundreds of BBs and commercial databases, and
I can, without reservation, say that Mohamed's
BB is one of the best

Feature packed, excellent menu structure, very
well formatted, it's got the lot. I kid you not
people, this is one of the very best. So phone now
on 01-581 3376.

Kermit! Well l downloaded Kermit on Infotel
using MEX with YMODEM (IK packets[ with no
problem. After uncrunching I ran the prog
without success. HOWEVER! I was a little too
hasty and forgot to set the serial port with
SETSIO. Now all is perfect!!!

A note of caution to Hayes modem users you
MUST have pin 20 connected. So there you have
it. an opportunity to use an excellent BB, and use
an excellent program. What more could a com ms
fan ask for? Ta for everyones' help. I'm off to
Infotel!

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Page 40

Amstrad User February 1988

Link your Amstrad CPC to the outside world with

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KDS : Minima* V21 V23
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Pace: Nightingale V2l, V23
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(£159)

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All you need - apart from your Amstrad - is a
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Call (0462) 32897 for enquiries/Access orders

Page 42

Amstrad User February 1988

LISTINGS

i'.—. . .. i.. - ■ i ■ ii i

Ivor Sturgess gives you the opportunity to devise the
strategy which will bring peace to war-torn Europe

T HIS is a strategy game for one or two
players which simulates a war in Europe, ft
only works on the CPC 664 and CPC 6128. It
will not work on a CPC 464 unless you have
fitted a rom other than VI.0.

In the one player mode, you (Red) play against
the computer 18 lack I, The game is played on a 26
by IS grid, and the object is to occupy all your
opponent's squares,

Each square has an alphabetical grid reference.
When asked for your target square, enter the
horizontal and then vertical reference. So to
occupy Northern England you would type EF
return.

Certain squares contain hidden resources, and
you are awarded points if you occupy one of
these. (Mineral resources -10, Industry =15, and
oil fields =20).

Resources a re consumed as you move, Moving
to a square next to one you occupy uses one
move, attacking an opponent uses two, an
airboure operation three and an airborne attack
on an opponent's square four moves,

The number of moves you get each turn is
determined by the amount of resources you
have, 0-24 one move, 25-45 two moves, 50 ■ 74
three, 75 - 99 four and. so on.

Normally moves are made to squares next to
the ones you already occupy, but you can launch
an airborne attack on any square, This takes three
moves - four if the square is occupied,

Four neutral countries on the map have the
ability to defend themselves. If one is attacked its
army will join the opponent's side.

To save a game, when asked for your target
square enter the word SAVE then press any key
after inserting the disc, You can only load a saved
game at the start up screen.

Computer logic

At first glance this section of the program may
seem a bit messy. This is because, m order to
keep the running time to a minimum, it has been
written in a sub-routine within subroutine
format,

By using this method, decisions are made in¬
stantly, or within 3 seconds, in 99 per cent of cases
However, under extreme conditions, it may take
up to a minute for the machine to decide on its
next move.,

To limit the number of moves the computer

will make on each campaign, line 1960 decre¬
ments the variable stp by 1 and checks if its value
has reached 0. ff it has, stp is reset to 30 and the
sub-routine starting at line 2240 is called.

This sub-routine selects a number 0-9 at
random. If this number is between 0 and 7 a 16
move campaign is selected from the data state¬
ments on lines 2470-2540 and the coordinates
stored in the variables tx and ty.

If the random number is 8 or 9, a 4 x 4 block of
squares is selected at random and stored in the
same way. Lines 2400- 2430 ensure that if the
machine is winning at least one of the squares is
occupied by player 2,

Lines 2000-2230 then make the appropriate
moves using the values stored in tx and ty. In
addition to this, if player 2 is outnumbered by 10
to 1 or more, lines 2440-2460 select a "move in
and finish him off' 1 campaign. Line i960 will
cause the computer to consider a retreat to
Iceland if it is outnumbered by 2 to 1. and Line
1970 will bring about a full scale retreat to a far
cor ne r of the m ap i f th e mach ine is I osing and has
the resources to do so.

►

Amstratf User February* 1988

Page 43

The SoundMaster consists of a cleverly
designed interface and the very latest
high-velocity lightweight headphones,

• The precision-engineered interface is
encased in tough plastic with a graded
volume control. It connects easily to your
micro (leads included), and sits discreetly
behind it while in use,

• The beautifully constructed stereo
headphones are made by leading UK
electronics manufacturer Ross. They
deliver crystal clear reproduction and are
fully guaranteed. They come with a special
adapter so you can also use them with
your personal stereo or hifi system.

• Every Sound Master is supplied in a
colourful presentation pack together with
detailed instructions to help you get the
most from this superb device.

all the fun and excitement
of your fa¥Ourite games

rest of the household

Please send me the Sound Master for my: _

□ BBC Model B □ BBC Master

□ Acorn Electron □ Amstrad CPC (stereo sound!)

£14,99 (UK) £16-99 (Europe/Si re) £21.99 (Overseas) |

Name____----- — - —

Address-----------

□ Cheque enclosed payable to Database Electronics

□ Please debit my AccessA/isa no:

][

Postcode-— T — --- —

SEND TO: Database Electronics, Europa House,
Adlington Park, Adlington, Macclesfield SK10 5NP,

Telephone Order: 0625 879940

Expiry date.
Signed-

Orders by Prestei: Key *89 then 614568383

MicroLink/Telecom Gold: 72:MAG001

A2M

LISTINGS

■mi mmmm

JSr<

yn /_L lu 1 a : c-r

■ RANDOM£f TIMU

'1:fOR ,0 i w ? :i = T kJT

f .<3 i u cN resarcfi.

r*s T o m^iwr

TriEW risoftfjj

1-6: f = III
r esor: f x

“SINT *i:PS!«r , 1 /to yc ,
9 ‘ ontInue * smd S,«

?ss i \’r 9 !‘ r ' KH “SUB 1419:6.;
m If ilOTTHEK ?«9

m NIIT H;PH, r *1/-0D£ (II

inn , f ' iy!r *"es r

300 GOSUS 59S

3,8 „ u#<) „ nu

1 3 ' c 7c 2em

330 GCSUE 63B

340 fjAPfflCS PEW T:FM Ml TO
t T&:FOR i-36? TO 95 STEP
M:N£X7 j,t

350 f ? fi ™ £5:1=0* 70 fa

s ^r _i 7MEw g#apwics pen

340 IF OCCfsyJi? THr y CBIdl rrr

lots

7CM40

150-160

170-250

250 370
380570

580-610

620-660

670-710

720-780

790-1000

Dimension arrays and display tbs title screen
awe the state or occupation of each square on (he mao at

93me im ° Brray 0C = "'"B •*

Set the state pi the program ready to begin the qam»
he mam game loop. It checks who's turn it is. receives the

SKSg”-**

STKSSS w “” «■ <-

A^r'fhV !! 6 UP M ated sc0fes ! ° «*» rfflhl the mao
A ter the variable occ to the current player's number after a

that squa a ° WrSt ' Cn ' P ‘° tS ihe fll3y5r ' s «*>«r »t to

Kfi ™fhX haVe beW W ° n ' Md if 50 in ® mm «tt

me vs name res by the appropriate number

Check .he variable occ for a value 36. If this is so then a

S'tl'S i f under anack snd you are ask8d lf ^
2 *Wi* 7 KmT'ploie^nd

anocaiectoyour opponent, and the move is continued

1010-1100

1110-1280

1290-1330

1340-1390

1400-1440

1450-1740

1750-1930

1940 2540

Decde (he outcome ol a battle, and act accordingly
L an iirwf $mK ' S fleXt3,1 °« U P'«' square If

carried oo5 " ° ffered a " d ' if «MPM,

Line 410 checks if either piayer has lost the game at the

S eaCh m0V# ' iU0, this tMiat •"* *• game

Saves eh le P M Bram a9a,n ' f 3 9ame is Peered

j d W AHn«T b J e | °" to . a d9!9lfte lf "' e nsmt WARDATA)

, ^,™ DAW lf c ° m ™« s »ved game is selected new
tpflne the program js Fun

Data statements containing the screen addresses to plot
the map coastlines p i

square" temWM C °' ,!3i,,i " 9 ths ini,iaf occupation of each

fJ = Sea

1 = Pfayer 1

2 - Player 2

3 = Polish territory

4 - Russian territory

5 - Spanish territory

6 = Turkish territory

7 - Unoccupied square

I he rh Cctnp ! ,,ter S m °'' e in the one ' o!a ver game, dealt with
by the section computer logic

VARIABLES

Checks whether it's P s iterritoriesl each player has
The number of anme ItJ »

Resources held by each player

Occupation o< each s^e
Resources in each square

sssis®.

SeeeompoterlO^csectron.

Amsirad User February 1988

Page 45

ORDER DIRECT TO: Srhml Software Lkl . 1 (in ftusitess OnSre,

Dominic SI . L-nertc*, Ireland irrf. (UK> Olff^^J- 61 45399.

K..-.-.-..

Education Discs €14.95
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AfiCftSW^aslercanql'turocBrd'BBrd-aycarri.'Visa Expiry date [ [ J

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My Machine ..■„....Titles ....

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M A XI-MATHS (age 0-1 5). Amsirad PC, IBM PC,

Amstrad CPC- 1 Triangles. 2 Angles. 3. Sir Cos Tan
4. Rectangles. 5. Circus.

prowdes a very sfimuAaf.'ng r&arrwnc," epwroomert.

MAGIC MATHS fan* 4-fl) . C&M 64. IBM PC.

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MATHS MANIA (age S-1 2). CBM 64,'IBM PC/Am&lrad
CPC. PCW, PC.

Multystfealtob and Division. ' J( appeals to ?te age group. My $00
PS$ Pam sneaking downstair-? before breakfast to play"

SBC GEEFAX.

BETTER SPELLING (age B-adult}. All Amsrrads
CBM 64.'BBQ.'IBM PC.

■ ■ We'l Organised LOSSDOS“. '"A proper course whrCih approaches
spe'img pro We ms wfJhspeoWq exercises '. E&7 f'U.K'.j.

BETTER MATHS (age 12-16*. All AmstnKBMMf
IBM PC.

flared IP f.n& IOP five m ar eduaiiontf. 1 Survey.

CHEMISTRY (age 12*1 Sf. CBM 6MG/IBM PC-All
Am&lrada CPC, PCW. PC-

"Very ambitious In terms of the range Of topics. High standard Of
questions ."

BIOLOGY (age 12-16). An AmslraOdCBM &4.-BBC/IBM PC
' 'A good excuse io pfay wif.h ypyr oompt-'lier and tt&ve id -n while
rtvrSfrtg ". yout Computer

MAP WORK 0012 ( 0 - Adult]. AmslradCFC. C&M& 4 , BBC.

E^COllepf graphic? md sound i.n tfws program sovOP f\g most aspects Of tAb Geography of
Bnfaio and inland. Grea! fun fOraii rhfi famrly.

PHYSICS (age 12 - 16 ). CBM 64 , Amstrad CPC. PCW & PC 1512 . IBM
■ ‘A colourful way Of re iris,'rip for GCSfrC-J.-eve, 1 examina Iron", Ypur Computer.

PLAYSCHOOL MATHS (a«a 3-7). Amstrad CPC
•Si* of me test programs for the pre-schooi and' young ehitefren.

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THE THREE B6AB9 - Amured CPC Di« h A superb graphics adventure
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The Pro’s

Choice

£ 15.95

£ 14.95

fl§mpetition PRO

Arcade Cl F4fl

quality joystick with all
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but with an exciting
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SCORE LIKE A PRO!

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Arcade quality joystick fitted
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Features include duel fire
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pads for non-slip control
and a robust steel shaft
with rubber return tor a
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£ 16.49

A brand new fully micro-
switched arcade quality
joystick. Features include
RAPID FIRE; UNIQUE
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The Competition Pro range of joysticks carry a two year guarantee.

The Competition Pro 5000 end Pro Extra are suitable for use with Hie
following computers:

Ams\radJSchneiden ZX Spectrum (when used With an interface];

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Amstnad; Z# Spectrum; Atari; and Cwnmodon die ttede marks raspecltaly or:
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Page 46

Amstrad User February 1988

430

ifi&SUB 690 „ „

m - s ^ : 1F *|sTiflEH P

EN play; PEN #1,play;SOTO 420
KALK GAflt LOP ****************
oLay=pLay+1 :EF pLay=3 THEN
GRAPHICS PEN play;PEN ^^^piay:mv-
IHT(resfpLay>/251*2 .

IF arn(1)=0 OR ara(.2) = 0 THEU 300
mw=«y~1;If *i w ’ 0 THEM „

If nui=1 m play-1 THEN W50
as =1 ;print -- 1 /PUytr play yo-j
ha -ye’mv;: IF mv=1 THEN PRI^ T * * r m
owe ."ELSE PRINT frl/novts.’ 1
INPUT +1 /Enter your Target Squar

t ”;al

60 at-UPPERS-(ai)

,1% IF a*=‘5AVE"THEN 1533
M IF LEN(9l><>Z THEN ;5 ®

,90 x=ASCCaS)-65 I

;ae y=nsctmwi**^^^" W:IF CR

y>lB then PRINT #1 /'No such sojar

e/:GQT0 450 t nT ,

510 IF occtx y y}=0 TNE*J PR^ T ?ri,ThaT
tre sea.":GOT0 45t
520 IF &ocU,y)=pUy THIN PRINT

gu already occupy that square. :G
OTO 450

5!0 GOSUB 1120:IF i z 0 T H^N 4 jB
540 IF otcU,yl-7 T HEN resCpLay)-res(
DLayJ-UfiOSUB 6M:MSUB 73fl;armCp
Lay)=ariiCpLaynl:li05UB 630:30^0 4

550 IF occCx,yl>2 AND oce(x,yl<7 ™EN

300 , , -t TUC11

560 IF occ(x,yl>0 AND cc :U;' H |N

resCplay^f^P'-ayMtG&SUEi 5 020

■Mm 630:GOTO 410
570 GOTO 390

'SE ’ ! MKET ********************** Tf

tteimnilf a$a ; "TH£N 590
9i*0PP£R$fatJ
RETURN

E‘j SPL/* SCORES **^A*+*+*+#**-i*j
l l r ^fpLay)<0 THEN res(pLayJ=fl
-FN T:LOCATE J2,Z: PRlflrARRlErri
OUTE 31,4;PPINT uSlHGV##W;ar
ltd):LOCATE 31,6jPRirfr , fi£SO-ORCES'
:LCCftTe 3t,B;pmr usiNr**^#'-

res M3

p£ * ^LOCATE 3?,TJ:PRl«rAJW|IES < :

LOCA;! 3?, 15 :PR IVT USING'#*^;*"-
armfZ): LOCATE 31 ,17: PRINT^ESOURC
£S":LOCATE 31M9:PRIUT USING"#**#
*#‘;res(2)

0 PEN 1:RETURN

0 PLOT OCCUPIED SQUARES *********

& oecix,yJsp£ay

5 i=J(*? 6416:j’3£Wy*?3kF0fl k=i to
■^3;fOS t*j TO M3 STEP -T
1 IF T£ST{kj UoJ 76'EN PLOT < I
1 NEXT L,K:RETURN
I A LOCATE RtSOURCES
1F re serdx,y/=0 TnEN RE TUAN
PRINT *l,’This square contains ’<
ir r*sorc(x,y )=1 TriFN print *t ' a
inera .1 resources,'

IF rtsordx,y)*2 THEN PRINT
ntfustry/

If rK0r E (x,y)=3 THEN PRINT *1/*
t1 feUds/

TOR f = 1 TOCresorc<K 1# y}*5>+5:res<

r es( P^y^ 1 :GOS-JB d30:5OLND
2 , 1 MM/ 12 :FO.R j rg 70 200;NFyi
^ i;RETURN

' invade neutral square *********

PRINT #1,’That's ;

IF occt^yjgj THEN &S='Pc Lish 1

760

770

LISTINGS

■^TfrfTlKT fl,'■'hit's an 3-,t 1

on, Continue T

Si s?,.s...

1240 IF a$<>‘T THEM 1220
1250 IF r?v<3 THEM PRINT T /

| t have the resources. .

= t e s 1 1

'•fuss 'an
■Spanish

'^rfcisTi’

1260 flu-»v

, 77 a ' UR ATTACK Wm

ooa toft "0 10B0:HEXT:$QUN

|J88 ,,, R.fOR 3 =a TO 260B-W
*it| TO

,15;NEXTtT0R d z S i00Gf

1298 ' m s^t *“»*“****.***■

1508 ai="-.US

151C FOR d'S TO 5E30:NEX.

1» PUIT #l=rtHT

■ 0 r afiother
1530 GOSUS 59E;R'jN
im stlfE OMt »****•*---

' 10 r 9iaW THE* .
„„ ; PHI CS fiH I;j*-
?;0 C5S0S 6 J 0 ;fu=j(

?30 if oceti . 1 , 1 -- ,,„

If OCC(x f yJj
y>=i;G0SU3 6
IF *3CcfJf,y) =
r ^' J = T;GOSUe
GRAPHICS PE*-
Tp 25;FUff ji

lj50 iM/inseIT

N / RESS Kfy/iGOSUfl
#T

15ie iviHTtljOpiKdj^p,^

fi"»,play,a.-ni(;),3r,n(;!

#Sf 23sStp / 1U:Tl

3."0 rOfl i=0 tq Z5 , f0jf j s0 r
T (i, j Jyres^rc f i

i3S^ ?=fl to T5:write ^9 i
r):HEXT

CLOSEOUT:G0T0 1j?0

i^E ' LO0» SAVES IW .

lMt TLS -*1; OPEN Fh ui»nirji . TU

tl,)9 Ft) ^ to tsiritm -9
M;NOT
1440 RETURN
1450 TCEIAW

371,86,J

1470 'BAITA1N

1480 «TA

1^0 IRELAND

4500 M« N,J9S,75,i*S,7^»
'^'”*^5^54,65^94,65.
1510 flt'dCK Sh' 76 ' 313 '”' 3 * 1 '
TS20 ! !L- Lfi' 2 * 0 ’ 2?; ' ? 56,i14,

„„ 'i1i,T90,!T5
1530 ' C4SPJAN SEA

1540 ! ?(J ^'261,2^5^6^300,;
,352,305,19!,281,2(1,™ ;

1550 NJSMi

1540 8J79 227,3/0,225 377 3.s ,

/343 > ^0£i / 344^204,3jg 195 s
_ ^47,^6^351,013,349.

970 IF sct(i,j) s k r hEN occti,j)-7
9B& NEXT )/i

999 IF nufi s 1 AND play=1 THEM BE;-JHN
130® fiOTD 540

10'S '04TTLE **ir****T*t , ' K **** t ** il * itir * i '
1020 CLS ^-1; PRINT At/BATTLE FOR S&JA
rp ;C.HR*tx^65i>;CHRSty+65);

1030 SOUSE- 1,20&fl,1&M 5 * 1 *f 15:i5lNrt

flNOU)*»0hIf i >arm<2>THEM 103&
1040 SCJHC '■ ,2300,10&/15,^,1 5 'M = iNT(
p L NQM I*1B3:1F ]>arr{13 THEN 1&40
“s053 PRINT #1/ i-ssses ;:REN *1,1
;PR I NT #T,i;:PEN #1,2:PRINT *1^J
lPEN J'uplsy: PRINT #1 ;restplayJ-
resC(Lay>-1

1060 IF pLay=1 AND i<i THEN. arnu3-ar

mtM+ 1 : 8 fin{ 21 B arni{ 2 M:GOTO J 100
iE■?0 SF pLay=2 AMD jci THEN arm<2J”sr
m«>4l:am(1>-ar*<n-1:SOTO 11M
1030 IMPRINT ^1 / Attack Unsutcesslu
L. Press ary key. ‘iGOSUB 590
1090 RETURN

11B0 FOR a-B TO 6B0:G

GSUB 730 :RFT13RN

1110 AIR DPPtRATION ****+****A*****+
1120 i=0: j“X-1:3F j<® I KESJ
1130 ]F occ<i J y)=pLay THEN : -1
1140 jsy-lilF j<0 'HEN 1160
1150 IF occ<x^ jl-p Lay THEM i=1
1160 i-x + 1:1F j>25 THEN 1130
1173 IF occCj,y)=ptay THEN i=1
11SB jsy+1; IT j>18 TthEM 1200

1190 IF occlx,j)=play THEN i-l
1200 IF i=1 THEN RETURN

Amstrad User February 1 988

Page d?

15 SB

1590

1650

Tfilfl

1620

1630

* aJt ti( 4,3M ' 1 5 7 ,w,r a, iss

143,290,14-8,290 in/

, 161,358,767,343 Ml 337 i/t

JTn < 6 '^M6J,289,1 64 ^ T Jjt

aE^AJiK E CHANGE I

129,291,132,292 730 ?e/ i S ,

# 2»M24'?7*'Jf 4 ' W7 ' ,Z4 ' ?,7 ' KS

dr '^J'^/TH,274,10? ^7 93

. SMI* i,M3 ' 71 ' MJ '™'«»

'wSiSI^mt' 231 ' 52 ' 2t2 ' 4( '

N,^09,77,21^90 ji fl y

ITALY

1640 DATA 92 ,225,97,225,104,221,JIM

27,119,226/142,197,Hi,190,1-i6,1
95,1H, 199,146,203,151,199,130,2
24,111,230,135,230,136,227
1650 1 GREECE fi TURKEY
1660 DATA 158,227,157,219,15&,201, 71
,180,175,167,178,168,171,196,176

,200,176,204,135,205,190/189,204
,180,207,185,217,182,230,139

1670 ' NORTH AFRICA

1660 HAT A 231,111/231,170,226,157,210

,159 ,202,155,163,163,162,1 50,
,146,136,154,1 35 , 160,113,171, 19

,185,115,187,59,169 ,43,192,46,19

™ daTib,190,20,

255,81,221,139,223,136,230, 38,2
71,81,139,81,356,110,338,125,137
,115,327,121,125/125,290,148
1710 1 ASIA „ jje _. n

1720 DATA 300 , 15 1,330,137,33l,HS,340
,137,360,110,395,126,450,90,430,
583,237,363
1730 1 51CILT

1740 DATA 117,189,155,184,127,189
1750 DATA M,0,7,7,M,M, J /7,&,flf4

,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4

1760 IT AT A 0 ,@, 0 , 7 , 7 , 0 , 0 , 0 ,7,7,7,4,4, 1 *

,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4

1770 DATA 0/3,0,0,0,0,0,1,7,7.7,n,4,4

, 4 ,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4

1780 DATA 0,0,0, 0 , 0 ,0/7,7,7,7,7/4,4,4

1790 DATA 0 , 0 , 0 , 0 ,7,B/7,7,7,7,4,4,4,4
jit f 4 , 4 , 4 ,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4
1800 DATA 0 , 0 , 7 , 7 , 7 ,0,7,7,7,1,4,4,4,4
, 4 ,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4
1810 DATA 0 , 0 , 0 , 7 , 2 , 7 ,7,1,3,3,4,4,4,4

4 4^ 4 /

1820 DATA 0 , 0 , 0 , 7 ,7,7,7,1,1,3,3,4,4,4
i 4 4,4,4,4,4,4,4, 4, 4,4
1850 DATa'0,5,5,7,2,7,7,1 ,7,3,1,4,4,4
,V,0,4,4,4,4,M/M,4
1840 DATA 0 , 7 , 5 , 5 , 7 ,7,7,7,7,7,7,7,4,4
4 4 4 4,4 ,4,4 ,4,4,4,4,4

1850 MT» iXsIs/MXU.M.M,*

, 6 , 7,7,7,7,7,7,7,7,7,7,_

I860 DATA 0 , 2 , 5 , 5 ,0,0,0/7,7,7,7, 6 , 6,6

6 7.7,7,7,7,7,7,7,7,7,7

1870 DATA 7 , 7 , 7 , 7 , 7 ,7,7,7,0,7,7, 6 , 6,6
7,7,7,7,7,7,7,7,7,1, f
1880 DATA 7,7,7,7,7,7, 7 ,7,0,7,0,0,0,7
,7, 7 / 7 ,7,7,7,7,7,7,7,7 ,/

LISTINGS

;; 7>7/7)T(T

1911

1951

,, 4 J CMN 1 EKS "OH

i« P » IKT 1 tlTuSm*

19bB s-P 4 -"

«s«' 22t “ , rl i,x,r«l2WC , v*1.

197B Sf mOi M Vmd 21*» ,

„„ r.:”» "•■

,V«X ..

7170 —

2050

2060

2070

2110

2120

2130

2140

FOR i-0 TO 15:1F &€c(tx(i),tyfi)
)<2 THEN 2050

IF txti) >0 THEN IF ocdtxd )-t ,t

yCi))-1 THEN 2070

If ufU<25 THEN IF occ(tn(iT+1,

tyM 1J-1 THEPi 2 370

IF ty f i )>0 THEN IF ocdt* ( 1) ,ty{

i M)=1 THIN 2070

IF tyfi)<18 THEN IF ncc(tx(i),ty

fi)+11=t THEN 2373

stp=0:GOTO I960

stp s stp- 1 : re jM) a resC 1 H 1 :x 5 txi i
) :ysty(i>:PRINT fl/PLayer 1 is
attacking stuare x+65>;CH

lKy+65>:FQft d=0 TO 500 :NEXT
IF cctCs,y)=7 THEN S05U9 680;GO3
U 0 710:anp(1)-armC1)+1:60SUB 650
:80TO 410

IF occ£s,y)>2 AND occ(n,y)<7 THE
\ flrran)=arffltn+1:6(lSUB 810:GOSU
3 68@:&0SUB 613:60TO 610
If occU,y)=2 THEN PRINT #1/BAT
TLE FOR SGU4RE CHfti(x+65);CHRS
(y+651; :G0SL18 1030;GOSUB 610:GOT
0 413

FOR i=1 TO 4 : FOR j=3 TO 1: 1 F sec
Ci,i)<>7 THEN 2000
NEXT j f i

x=4:y s 1:res 11 >=res( 1 l-3i#v=*V‘2i
PRINT #1/Air attack on square ‘
;CHS£()i*65J;CHRJ(y + 65>:&QSUB 128
0 : GOTO 2080

x a lHTmN0(l)*10J+15:y B IHT(RNDUi
*10Jt&:IF occ(jt,y)<>7 THEN stp-s
tp-1:IF stp>20 THEN 2140 ELSE 20

Ti 5 (~[f" 0f.c(*-1,y'-77s

^tN i=0:tn£03=?tnyl0)-y^ OTO ^

2160l a tp^ ; tx(8)=* : t»(1)=<:tyt«>=rl;

tvC 11 -y*»:t*t 2 >*k -1 :ty« =»- ■»*

1 pi 'ftir attack or, squa e , lhh
j(s45l;OMRHy+65):fi0SUB 12 B 0 :BO

2170 FOR r-3 TO 4:FQH pB T Q 1:1F 0Cg

THEN 2190
2180 HOT i,i:«TO *BM
21 O 0 X 3 4:y-1:F(M* T0 4:F0R 3

2200 If occ< t/]7'1 THEN 2B00
2210 IF otc(i,jH7 THEN J *-- 1 -M
2220 NEX 1 j, ^-paTUT #1

’tin attack on iquare
W)jCH«ty*«>^ 0SW m *' Mn 2

12W *MNT(RHDn)*1&>t1;lF arrl11<4 ■

2259 CNi i GOTO 2269,2270,2280,2790,21
39,2110,2120,2130 ,2150 ,2150
7260 RESTQ-RE 24T0:0QTO 2340
2270 HESTQHE 7480:601^

2289 RtSTORE 24'90:0CTO 2140

2290 RESTORE 25-00 ; GOT0 2140
2390 RESTORE 25V0:tOTO 23^0
?1i10 RESTORE 2520:'jOTO 2340
2129 RESTORE 2S3&:GOTO 2/^-0
2310 RESTORE 2540

2343 FOR P‘0 TO 15:«« t^-l 3 Py()3 J
tXTiRETUftH

2463

U7%

2480

ijI«rHMD(1MM):IF i>22 T «EN' 2
HNrcmm.iithiF i > f5 lm2

m=0;fOR k = i 70 i t3.-F£>J? Uj 10 - f

’ -L^=ffltl;NOT i t

IF a r mnj<a,rm (^)*2 TWIN' RITURltf"

'siasa-y*

3 A!Exr

! IF «=« THEN stp= s tp-7:JF stnili
THIN 2350 K 1r 3lp -

f RETUJRJH

J=«:F0« H= 0 ro J5;f()R
IF = ? THEN t*<kJM-ty(k]

;;' f : ! f J> 9 THH SET™""’
iV “T j, i:RETU ffN

f / J' l’ 3 'J;”.*,

t\ * { * n P/1?,7,1?,S

ggps»

4 (J H J

^ T ^/V4,12,15,n ,T5d2dP

Page

.4,1775 rr c j-d I >5f?r February 1988

COME HOME TO A
REAL LIVE WIRE

In ject the power of a mainframe into your micro.

MICRONET is the only product that provides

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London, EC1R 5EJ. Telephone 01-278 3143
Please send me a free MICRONET brochure.

Name___

Address

Tel_

Micro.

Age

W'L'i 1 ,W. ■ "

“J

Learning CAN be fun

• Use your Amstrad to teach and amuse
your children at the same time.

• Three packages crammed full of
educational programs - and

so easy to use!

• Each program has been
educationally approved
after extensive testing in
the classroom.

Ages 2-5

Alphabet

Colours

Counting

House

Magic Garden

Matchmaker

Numbers

Pelican

Seaside

Snap

Ages 5-8

Balance
Castle
Derrick
Fred's Words
Hilo

Maths Test
Mouser
Number Signs
Seawall
Super Spell

Ages 8-12

Anagram

Codebreaker

Dog Duck Com

Guessing

Hangman

Maths Hike

Niro

Odd Man Out
Pelmanism
Towers of Hanoi

PELICAN

Teach your children to cross the
road safely at a Pelican crossing

■r -

HOUSE

Select the colours to draw a house
- hours of creative entertainment

NUMBER SIGNS

Provide the correct arithmetic

sign and aim to score ten out of ten

BALANCE

Learn maths the fun way* Type in
the answer to balance the scales

HANGMAN

Improve your child's selling with
this .fan uersf on of the jjopu Jar game

ODD MAN OUT

Find the trord that does not fit -
before your time runs out

Send to: Database Publications*
FREEPOST, Egropa House,
Adlingtim Park, Aldington,

FUN SCHOOL ows

Macclesfield SK 10 5 NP,

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Age 5-8
Age 8-12

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AS40

DRILLER

IT has. often been said £hat a really
good computer game would put you
in a world and allow you to explore.
You could go anywhere, and look at
objects from any angle. This will
happen when computers become
more powerful.

Weil you don't have to wait You
don't even have to buy a more
expensive computer. That world is
available here and now on the
Amstrad.

Driller is intended to De the first of
many Freescape products from
Incentive Software. Freescape is a
graphics technique which involves
the sort jf sD mathematics which
makes your head hurt.

The computer stores a. model of
the world and then uses the Free-
scape routines to build this Into 3 3D
image. You are a free agent within
this. So if a block is suspended jest
above the ground you can try going
under, over or around it,

All this processing takes the com¬
puter a fair amount of time
recalculating a whole screen is not
an easy task. The result is a game
which runs a little slowly.

Incentive has been very clever in
tackling this problem - the game
doesn't need to be played quickly.

The scenario is that the moon of
your olanet is about to blow up. You'
need to release all the pent-up
gasses and avoid a calamity.

This is done by visiting key sites
on platforms suspended above the
moon's surface and dniling for gas.
Hence Driller.

The drilling rigs are teleported
from the home planet but you have
to find the IS sites. This can be done
from one of two craft, a tank or a

plane.

The plane is much quicker at
getting around and can fly between
platforms without using special
doors. Unfortunately only the tank
can lay the rigs. St is best to explore
by air and then use the tank to tey
drills,

In many ways Driller is a bit iike an
adventure, OK, it may sound like an
arcade game. It does even more so
when you discover that there are
hostile gun emplacements and killer
sats which can be disposed of with a
quick blast of your laser, but
essentially Driller is a thinking game.
Looking at problems and deciding
how to solve them before rushing in
tike a fool.

You need to cross a gaping
chasm; there is a monolith nearby.
By shooting the monolith you can
build a bridge; knocking it over with
your tank yields more points.

Changing one thing - such as
shooting a block, may affect another
- opening a door for example, By
learning and mapping, you w :l con¬
quer this game. What's more you
will want to.

The packaging aspires to the
standards of Rainbird or Micro¬
prose. There is a novella with crisp
artwork and a keygende. The pro¬
gram is novella protected - a laud
ab :, e form of piracy protection.

It falls a little short., the story 'n the
novella is not much cop i sorry Ian},
but the actual instructions are fine.

Driller;' will do we I Decause t
requires such a wide range o ; skills.
In fine Incentive tradition the pro¬
gram works Detter on the Amstrad
than any other 8 bit machine. A
teture classic.

Author: Incentive

Price: £1795 disc, £14.95 tape

Amstrad User February 1988

Pape 5 J

1 SAY chaps. Lets go and rough up
some foreigner chapp^s. And Set's
do it 'cos they're living in the Holy
Land.

On such shaky grounds great
history is made. More precisely the
campaigns against the Saracens,
vinegary nomads who stomped
around the far end of the Med at
about the far end of 10 centuries ago
(historians don't write in - Bdh

As they were Moslems, and thus
of another religion that felt it had a
claim on the area, they were fair
game for the devout swordslingers
of Europe, One such warrior was
Sian, His mission - and yours - is to
seek out the Chief of Saracens and
destroy him.

The momentous encounter
between II an and the CoS takes
place in nwes of mind-boggling
complexity and difficulty. Astute
people might be able to spot the
point where medieval meddlings
leave off and the modern maze
game starts up. In these convoluted
corridors the traditional problems
confront the uncaped crusader,

Let's start at the lop. The standard

equipment of a Saracen-hunter such
as llan is one iOngbow, Not a lot
against a castle of fanatical guards,
bombs and other, as yet unde¬
scribed but guaranteed extra-nasty
devices. However, the combination
of bow, archer and arrows is much
more effective than one might
expect.

Take,.please, the bombs I revealed
to you earlier. These go off laue to a
Christian Proximity Fusel when our
hero wanders past. But with a we II-
aimed arrow,, they can be persuaded
to prematurely exolode, and take
out any misplaced guards that are
unfortunate enough to be nearby.
The cams technique, slightly
modified, is needed to get rid of that
stubborn CoS. Details later.

Arrows can also kill guards
directly, shatter fragile constructs,
and wall in enemies when used to
shoot the Wall Maker, This machine,
beautifully depicted as a spiral, er,
spiral, produces a red-crick wall
across the passageway to keep
undesirable peoolc and objects well
away.

Since these arrows-are the on ; y

weapon in the hands of the forces of
righteousness, the force is a little
dismayed to find that they run out.
Coops. Luckily, there are arrow-
makers, which if shot turn into four
arrows. Voir can imag ; ne the prob¬
lems encountered if the last missile
is unleashed at anything else...

What else? Well, there is the usual
range of locked, magic and one-way
doors, keys, balls (cannon), safety
zones where nothing much happens
god grenades.

What else can a man say about a
maze game that hasn't been said
before? Added Turks? More and
Stonier walls? As the creative |uices
run dry (must brew another batch),

all that one can say 3s that if you
must find out, a budget game makes
it fairly painless. Unless you wander
past a bomb,

A uthor; Americana/ Mastertronic
Price: £1.99

The game has that subtle
quality of addictiveness
and simplicity that can -
occasionally - transcend the worst
pictures. Everything else is gro¬
tesquely horrible, but the game is a
hooker. I wish I knew how rhev did

REVIEW

/ _ /

Saracen

The

truth

about

TELEX

H ow much does It *=<>**

to OO on Telex 7 Teto macnjne , The cheaf*a W.I1

into x Telex mxchln ^. om wftware , 5PP the

^SSs^SjSas'-

Telex is just one of ^ 3 r0 ” J d trie? newS as it happens, g . ht roun d the

***** '£££%£ ^ - ana much more-

But Why USC TCt ** 7 mmunjcalion Between business Today

^ ^ y0li ^ ^for Tele* .at the
«nvS ^ JSe t0 oe in your office to «nd £

50 now «« tof > QUf ——

Page 52

Amstrad User February 1988

wWmMmM wa

We've brought together the very best non-games programs
culled from past Issues of Amstrad Computer User

These clever programs cover animation, business, music,
games hacks, and much mare. Whatever your interest,
there's something here for you - and at a very special price.

In some cases you wifi need to refer to the issue of ACLJ in
which the programs appeared, in the fist beiow these are
shown by * followed by the month , You can send for the
eight issues at the special price of £6,60 by using the order
form.

Elite Disc Hack - add millions of credits or Elite status
to your commander.

Justin's Scroll - discover how the experts program a
scrolling landscape.

RSX Lister-list all RSXes including those which have
been soft loaded.

Printer Spooler - carry on using the computer while
the printer is working,

Epson Dump — produce hard copses of the screen
display on the DMP20GO/3GOG,

Organ - turn your micro into an impressive musical
keyboard,

ZX Loader - load Spectrum binary files into your CPC.
* July 1936 ,

Homespread - prepare your budget with this simple
but flexible spreadsheet. * May 1936.

Amgraph - produce bar graphs, pie charts from a
table of numbers. * November 1985.

Diary - bring some order to your busy lifestyle (disc
only). * May 1985

W A

Mode 3 - Mode 0 with four colours in only 8k, with
accompanying demos. * January 1986.

Animator - become the new Walt Disney. Built-in
J tweening r facility. ★ April 7 986.

Trace - re-direct the trace output to a window or
printer. * December 1986 ,

Sorcery Plus Hack - modify the sprites and increase
your survival chances. * January 1986.

Chord Finder - learn the difference between a suspen¬
ded and flattened chord. * September 1985 .

Jet Set Willy Hack - infinite lives and a magic teleport
facility. * September 1985.

Double Height Print - expand your horizons with
these tail characters, * September 1985 .

THE OFFICIAL AMSTRAD USER CLUB

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REVIEW

JACK THE NIPPER II
- COCONUT CAPERS

"cds there's the offer of a Cheatsheet
to help you achieve still greater
wayward ratings.

The usual care seems to have
been taken by the Sheffield lot with
graphics and ancillary items. There's
a iot of jungle, and usually
something new waiting just at the
point where you starts to wonder
whether everything's been seen.

It's a different game from Jack The
Nipper I, more complex and more
colourful, but seems to keep the
good points of the original. For
once, a sequel that presents a whole
new set of puzzles while keeping the
spirit of what's gone before.

ALRIGHT you horrible lot. This is
entirely your fault. If you hadn't
gone out and bought Jack The
Nipper in such numbers, Gremlin
wouldn't have succumbed to the
temptation to produce JTN2 -
Coconut Capers. OK, so perhaps it
was the Spectrum mob that did it,
but whoever it was had better own
up.

I cannot tell a lie. I liked JTN. So
the second in the series was awaited
with interest at Dunhaekin, In this
sequel, the lad has baled out over a
jungle in transit to Australia, to
where a disgruntled government
has deported him (wish they'd
deport me I.

First priority: Stay on the run from
Mum and Dad. Second priority:
cause as much mischief as possible.
These two priorities are, of course,
as interchangeable as the wee
horror's nappies.

But what childish misdemeanours
can be perpetrated in the dense
African jungle? The ‘ad has two
pockets, the weapons stash end the
holder for naughtiness items.

Weapons - like the blowpipe-can
be used against all and sundry,
while naughty items have more spe¬
cific and ingenious uses which have
to be discovered. What can the
onion be used for, when the nearest
Big Mac Is 3,000 miles away?

Other mysteries crowd in. The
whole set of jungle denizens are dad
in shades, and an elephant in dark
glasses is summat else. The stan¬
ds re batch of fluttering, crawling,
hissing and deadly th ngs prowl t h e
tree- lined pathways Jack heads, Or
should that be toddles... Anyway,
there are also a good number of
which the kid can
to avoid any excep-
infested crocodile ponds.

It's worth mentioning at this point
the glorious musical effects that are
scattered throughout the game; a
sho r t burst of Puppet on a string
accompanies a successful grab at a
rope, and many other tunes await
the explorer who knows his or her
music,

The titular coconuts are used to
discourage the natives depicted in
stereotypical Victorian fashion with
s through their hair - and
by dropping them from on
Unlike the original JTN, there r s
concept of nappy rash as the
progresses, rather a score [for
puzzles solved and progress made)
and a naughtyometer dor havoc
wreaked), "he game can be played
for a maximum on either front I get
the feeling that the G re mi ns would
rather you played it for the latter,
first 'cos it's more fun and second

JACK lives on, and the
experience his parents
have garnered since the
first issue shows in the smoother
action, the better graphics and the
depth of play, I really enjoyed this
game, even if it's another in an infin¬
ite- line of platform-based concepts.

What's more, the Amstrad version
seems to be more than just a Spec¬
trum conversion, which is markedly
better than Jack One. Should keep

YOU Tarzan, me Liz. An
adequate jungle romp
which reminded me of
three weeks in paradise. I hope its
the last we see of the little lad.

Perhaps there will be space for
Jack the juvenile delinquent, or Jack
the young man in a few years time,
but meanwhile this stands a good
chance of looking dated and cashing
in on the sequel bandwagon.

I’D have assumed that
JTMII would look a bit like
JTNI. l J d have been
wrong. This looks more like a Mikro
Gen game, Not that that is a bad
thing.

If you want to be analytical and
boring you could complain that the
sprites are monochromatic and that
it looks a lot like a Spectrum game.
Jack saves himself by being a cute
! ittle kid, All in all I preferred the
precursor,

Author: Gremlin
£9.95 tape £14.95 disc

Page 54

Amstrad User February 1933

D/WCUmUKTTD

THE ULTIMATE POOLS PREDICTION PROGRAM

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PREDICTS Wot host 5COKEDRAW&. bul AWAYS, HOMES
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SUCCESSFUL £Et£C g-jar»JTM5a (Me Foakwiriner petitHtm
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JLDAPTABI.F Probabilities are given on bvecy fixture -
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develop and teat yaw own Uftlfime wuhod. ^jJT 3

SIMPLE DATA ENTRY AL ream names are ir, rhe program. Simply type In thi: reference
niLmhr;T¥ fro it., the screen Close FTXGEN to produce fixture list aiiiomatLcarly f$*i> beiowX
LEAGUE JiNt) NON-LEAGUE AL English and Scottish League teams are supported,
and also thn non-league sides often used on pools coupons.

PRINTER SUPPORT Full hard eopy priWCKH Of data tf you have a printer,

PRICE £15.00 (all inclusive)

GEN 37/8

AT LAST; No more snuggling far ho.irs to get the
fixturr list into the computer FKGEN has been
programmed! wtifi >11 Eegtish and ScottUh League
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POOLSWtffNTER with riXGEN m .50 (lor both)

CODRSEWDINERn

NOT JUST A TIPSTER
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Jjjjlij I j> jLiIlL L, j Ij ' i. .. . - Il Jt J .» I r . s i, J jLu j. jJ I J
.jJLfcJl d ( I jl ■ ■ I ■ I j I , ^JjJL .i (

^ I ^*i ■ £_IJ,Sh. j Ui,' jrJ y | I nS ! I U_* 1_, +

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jl B »— 1

AMSTRAD 464/6128

Amstrad Bilingual
Arabic / English

The most advanced
in both languages

usr I-\MF-.h S n-.RK-U l . MtUT |NtiH-\M NtU i.| d
II L I'.l’Ftf HSE O.iM'ij -JX I-J tii
rr i t \ .17 im r\u i k

COftlRAPlieis INTERESTED IN BECOMING DISTRIBUTORS
SHOULD CONTACT TMC AT THE ABOVE ADDRESS

DO YOU SUFFER FROM:

EARLY NIGHTS?

DEEP SLEEP?

BOREDOM?

THEN TRY THESE ADVENTURES WITH A REAL
CHALLENGE.

THEN BROOKESOFT PRESENTS

WHO DUNNIT?

DID Dorothy do it? Did James see it? And why has the dog
got a wooden leg? Can he still bark?

DID THE BUTLER DO IT? A real twister; an adventure to
make even the best detective pull his hair out.

THE HOUSE

Renovate the house? Easy? Simpie?

The odds are stacked against you. The roof is hanging off.
The rats are doing backstroke in the cellar, overall a very
desirable property.

CAN you survive the HOUSE. . * {next month HOUSE II).
THE VIRUS PROBE

The most lethal vims known to man,, a rogue probe has
deviated from it's original course, causing severe concern.
Your objective is to find the 'ROGUE' probe and destroy it.

THE BLADE OF THORDRON
The blade of the golden sword of THORDRON, lost for five
thousand years has come to light in a small mining village.
Many yeara have past since the Planet wars and only in the
ancient books of the Eiders, is there any mention of the
Sword? But only one man knows the terrifying purpose of

this weapon.

The power of good or evil lies in your hands.

SEND £5,00 (inc P&F), Please state which copy you require to:
Brookesoft, 27 High Street, Selsey^r W, Sussex PO20 ORB

How to get
your Amstrad
to talk to
a BBC Micro

(or a Spectrum or a Commodore
or an Atari or an IBM... or
ANY other computer}.

Language problems become a
thing of the past when you join
MicroLink. Now you can use your
Amstrad (plus your telephone) to
send messages to any other
computer user, with no
restriction on make of machine -
or even on
distance.

• «_«. electronic mail and

ffHCfOUrm mudi, ntwcft ***■

Details from 061-456 8383

A ms trad User February 1988

Page 55

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CPC +64 Ca$$ 4 ft 1 e Based Computer will Grwrt Sown ...„.. K 17 Games Pack + Joystick Free £189.95

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DMP2M0 Owr ICO Tjpelace Cofrbkialiana inckKihg NLG..,.■+ out Rlbw Kit Free £159.00

MEW LOW PRICE 10 CF2 3* Disks S-uKitS* tor 1st and 3nd Drive Orly £24.95
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* Record full details of your portfolios of stocks, shares, unit trusts etc.

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* Keep records of your cash as you buy and sell.

* Lis! your folio, past transactions, dividends and cash accounts.

PRICE ANALYSIS

* Record share prices, unit trusts, indexes, exchange rates etc.

* Store up Jo 260 prices per share (eg, weekly prices for 5 years).

* Plot prices, and moving averages on a logarithmic or linear scale.

* Real prices supplied as a demonstration (inc FT 30, B. Telecom.),

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Comprehensive forty page manual,

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P$ge 56

Amstrad User February 1938

T HE remaining source code for the Stix
game, in Listing \ covers the routines for
converting screen inks from one value to
another; the filling routine that either
locates the stix or colours the empty block, the
random number generator and randomising
routines for the stix's position and velocity, and
the routines for stepping from one screen pixel to
the adjacent ones.

Four different routines scan through the screen
memory, each looking for pixels set to one par¬
ticular ink and converting them into pixels of a
different ink.

I used four colour-specific routines instead of a
single general purpose one in order to speed up
The program operation - the inks to test for, and
the ones to use instead, are hard-coded into the
program instead of being accessed as variables.
A Iso this means that virtually all the va ri ables can
be held in the Z80 registers at once, which also
makes for faster-running code.

A faster fill

The original fill was very slow because, In order
to dovetail totally with software using the exis¬
ting Amstrad routines, it worked with user
coordinates and CALLs to the firmware. Each
firmware call has a built-in time overhead
because of the code to switch the lower rom in
and out of the memory map.

A Iso the firmware calls are general purpose so,
for example, the GRA-TEST-RELATIVE routine
has to find out what mode the screen is in, what
the pixel-to-byte mapping is for that mode, the
user-cootd-to-pixel conversion factor and so on,

Since Stix runs in Mode 0 only, we know these
th ngs in advance and can make savings which
individually seem small, but make a big overall
difference because they occur in a loop which
may be executed many hundreds of times.

First, instead of user coords (which are stored
as two lots of two bytes i we can represent pixels
by their screen address and a one-byte pixel
mask for that particular address. This means one
hyte less to PUSH and POP from the user stack.

It also frees an eight-bit register so that the
variables top and bottom can be stored on the
Z8G, where they can he accessed faster than in
memory.

The background colour that we are filling over

Or Stix II: The Sequel. It's 1yping-finger$-at-the-
ready time as Peter Green presents the second
half of a marathon machine code game

is always ink number zero, so we save the rime
normally needed to decode the ink pattern and
make a comparison. This is because the AMD
operation that masks the pixel sets the zero flag if
and only if the pixel was ink 0. Similarly we can
code the fill colour into the program directly (it's
always ink 7) instead of fetching that from a
memory variable.

Finally, at the two places where we use the
code for decoding a pixel pattern in a screen byte
to an ink number, the program instructions are
repeated (with different labels, of course) instead
of being split off into a subroutine, ss would be
normal efficient coding practice. This increases
the size of the program slightly but saves The
delay of two CALLs and RETs on every pass
through the loop.

Decoding de inks

Figures 1 and 2 try to explain the mysteries of
ModE 0 ink mapping. A screen byte represents
two pixels - the left pixel uses bits 1,5,3,7, while
the right pixel is bits 0,4,2.,6, The letters pqrs rep¬
resent the four binary bits of the ink number.

Obviously the bit mask for each pixel can be
obtained from the other by rotating the mask by
one pixel fin either direction! ■ this is used a lot in
this program.

Let ink — pqrs (four-hit binary number)
Then the left pixel is mapped as:

—

'—

and the right pixel as:

Figure i. Mode 0 screen mapping

Converting a bit pattern into a Mode 0 ink
number is a little tricky, because the Amstrad not
only stores the ink in the screen memory as every
other bit in a byte, but the order of the middle two
bits is reversed.

The code for this is shown just after the label
.wend2, and is a little sneaky. What it does, after
re-art an gin g the required four bits so that they
am adjacent, is to generate an XOR inversion
mask whose value depends on whether th$ bits
labelled q and r are the same, or different

Suppose q and r are the same. Then it doesn't
matter whether they are swapped or not, so the
inversion mask is all zeroes. XORing a byte with
zero leaves all the bits unchanged, so the result is
the ink number we require.

However, if q and r are different, then one of
them must be a 1 and the other a zero. Mow
swapping over two bits in the middle of a byte is
a (relatively) time-consuming operation involving
a lot of shifts, but if we simply invert both the bits,
by XORing Them with is, we get the same result
in a single logical operation. In this case the
j inversion mask has Is for the two bits to be swap¬
ped, and Os everywhere else.

Many extra features could be added to this
basic game. The high score routine from the July
'87 issue could be incorporated. Extra lives could
be given for every 10GO points. Bonus points
could be scored for completing a level quickly.

Since it gets harder to avoid The stix as the area
fills up, double or treble points could be awarded
for ever^ 1 percent scored over 75 per cent at the
end of a level.

Off you go.

Figure it: Mode 0 pixel masks

Amstrad User February 1388

Page 57

Pag e 58

Amstrad User February 1'988

CALL Line_ffawn
DK C

Jfl NZ,cti 9 tfa
RET

.rnj.pos

;Set stis to randon x,y co-otcs

CHL rnd jSet ft to randan nmher, 13 “ SfF

U HL^S95B4 ;H = laving valid is position, L = nin-nurF

>, his a ? E jifarie 4 even Csd initial Mix always uses i s_pi c 1J

CALL A range ;thetk if A Lies within vaLitf range

j-H hc^ fnappes ;Loop bact u<sH l tirn! valid -andon <■

L& i,k ;Save it in t

Li (x-stijtJ/A ;and store i r

- r q 1

CALL rnd
ip ml, mac

[ALL A.range
i R MC,rp1
Li L,A

LD Ey_5tix},A

sane 'or y coordinate C though need not he even'

LP M
LP H„0

CAll SCOOT_POSITiO* ;Non calculate screen address tor top L e f t d stu

Li (sti* iddr),HL ;Stare it

RET

.md u e 1

:Set instill sti* velocities to randois values

;Set ranoan x velocity
;Set ran<jci y velocity

; Change x or y velocity at randan (gives irregular ssi t
;ndveiientJ. F -rs? generate a randan nunber in A
;6ult it less than ?40, so change is *ade only
;once in (very U calls 10 this routine

jGenerate a random number
■Odd or even?

;Odd rteans change y velocity

CALL rvl

JR rv£

.£hg_ve1
CalL rnd
CF m
RET t

CALL me
RKt*

JR C,rv?

-rvl

CAL,, yt. con ; Else change * velocity. Get randan nunber, +1 or -1

:,P (x_vel),ft ;Stare new x velocity

RET

, r *tl -Exactly sane as above routine sot for y

CALL vd.con
LD (y_vel),A
RET

iVeL-ec^
CALL rnd
RfiCA
SBC A,A
G5 1
RE -

, rnd

;LSB :q carry

= 2 (if carry clear) or s-F F lif carry set)
:Farce LSB to 1, so A - +1 ;t -1 as required

-ft range

; Return with carry set if and only if l <= A < n
j ” " " -»■■---»■ _

CP ,H

RE ^ wc ;Enii uttfi carry clear if a >z h

HI th * tarry Nag, so that exit

“' T ;^th carry clear if L > ft, carry sef ■; f L , : = A

; Get randon nunber in A (Courtesy el Pick Sargent)

Li HL,med
LD A, R
m A, (Hl)
LD (HD ,A
RET

;Po : nt to randen r-jitbe'- seed
; Ran dot, number from refresh register
;Rdd to rseed
;Stare ftew rseee

-findstijc

a-ttased on f(U rautfne previously puaLijhed)

,t"try; [^flgsif f.g r s.f ar ^ piKff
' PL 1 sc 'sen addre SE D f sf?rt prs , E ^

3nly ]X pr4 s&rvad ■ carry clear if sti* To~nd

LP iTyS-tack— T
Cfti... pgsh.user

)LET stark.pDTnteriiS
;Plsh start.: and stan^HL

.while’

PUSH’ If

POP Hi.

LD PE,stack

;Copy ,JEtf SUclc Pointer to hL Uia nacMne stack!)

OR A

sac H L,pE

JP C,wend1

Lfl h,(]r+&)

SEC IT

L3 L,(JT+|3

OEC IT

LD C,.;3T + fl)
it EC ]T

; Clear the carry f : .ag

;£*•( UMILEl if stack Mintira-1, it « ier s!itl

kEcse POP address

;P0?

.uhi,e?

RRC C

;Rot ace *as< right

I ‘iC.uZe

| 1MC Hi.

jjo c^rry rtf3ns St H f r S4 „ E S£r ^ n
;£lse step ta next screen byte .; n right

■ WC3

-D A,[HO

ftND C

JR 7 f while2

;&*l screen ayte

;i“ask of F required Li cs

; fF -TESTfffdMJ-background, colour

rt:tn qrA0 WHILE construction

. »enc!Z

01T 7 f C

JR Ni,v?b

RLCft

;FL5E cone here when WHILE? condi tf^S ’are FALSE
; Le r t or r ighr ci jee [ ?

want bits T,M,7
;Ei Se lave t D 1,5,1,?

.w?b

LP D£,ft

;Sa bt pattern of interest in ft is s 020 r 0 p £
a *- o op .. oyrf (four bits t'b p r oc-fs' ; ] i

.w?c
RRCA
flfiCA
RL 3
DEC E
JP

ip A,e

R-R CA
flRCft
ADC A/E
RSCA
SBC A / A
AM t
m 5

CP 7
RET Nt

*LC C
JR *C,w?d
DEC NL

; Shift ever. bit right jf0# * , r , 0 E
; 'her shift ■• t .eft into a

;Loop "our tines, exiting when f s g
; h(re ft ? & z

;^ve q to carry, r LS& of flreg
;A - A * 0 4 tarry, le LSB - r - j 4 q
;H(re carry = qtr

r So Areg = 0 if ^ 5E c gpp

;Kee[S nasi for q □ rej f q n i , r

;Inverc a y ,d - , i[S if (lse do ^

converting ercadea ink to ink. r. jn h e r

if (»4t faustfl by a pi Ke t in thi sti,

, Re (.ur.i uitb £3rry clear if fq un d sti*

;E:s« rt,i M rota:, rati left to „, Ul t 3ijfl
r _'- 7j - f Y ' T?3nE £ l'^’ sane screen f,y?e
;c.s? step tc next screen byte on Lefr

Amstrdd User February 198H

Fags b9

AMSTRAD COMPUTER REPAIRS

Fixed Price Repairs

From £10 inclusive at VAT, P&P. and 3 month - NO QUIBBLE' guarantee.
Send your computer to;

The Computer factory (Dept. ACU02J
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We will then give a no obligation fixed price quotation, if you want to
proceed, fine. If not, we will return the machine by the next post at our

expense.

if you prefer to telephone In the first instance for on informal 1 aftof-
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Ako avaJotjte.- masp/ve software selection.

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BREAK SCORE PLAYER SCORES HIGHEST BREAK

FRAME SCORE. No. OF FRAME. POSSIBLE LEFT ON TABLE

DATE. TIME OF DAY. TIME OF ENTRY

DURATION OF FRAME No. REDS LEFT No. SNOOKERS REQUIRE D

Entries Rrtrifed as Frame K played end recorded to DISC. Can be Recollwt Scr INSTANT
REPLAY or REPRINTING Preselected Comments can be added ttYoughout frame, end
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Plug on the memory insert the disc. type RUN H B RUN WORD" T en seconds
later BrynWord, BrunSpell and the 30.000 word dictionary are all in itie
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SPORTS SIMULATIONS FROM E A J SOFTWARE jEstablehed 3 Yeans)

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Page 60

Amstrad User February 1938

_ mmm

PROGRAMMING

.w?d
Y B,3

t uhi lfi3
vD A,(HL)

AND C
JP Ni,**nd3

It A,&FC
AND C
Oft (HO
LD {ftl4,A

PUSH: HI
CALL LiiK-'iB
LD A,IHL>

PC' J HL
ANC C

Jfi Z,thfltk_top

SET 1,8
jr ctieck_helow

,h e t f. .top

BIT 1,8

jft ^checK-ttiQB

PUSH HL
CAU (ini-up
CALL pustUA&«f

pop n

REE 1 f B
. he C K-Sfl L Qn
PUSH HL

call Lint-down
LD M«0
POP HL
UNO C

; LET top :

1 f Ltl do tton-1 (oifs "■ an:- 0 of 9,'

■LET AscGlours. at current cursor- ^oirtiun
'-IF TESTSC0,0K>backflroynd_CGLour IB?

; THE1L qui t yhi 1(3 loop

■EL5E pUt pixel- Set encoded ink 7
'•act off bits tar required

’incjjde the bits for the otlier pud m in?

■ and put back th« streen byte, ^t)S PLOTting tne P 1Kf

;Save scree*. address

■SKp screen address -t? 5 ‘ ine ,

■ Set colour5 of pixeis sb^e turret put* 1

;Restor& old s ct ee-' address

■if UST CO>0ur* ba c. kg r ound colour f HEN ihec't too
;EL5-E LET top^t

-and skip over code ‘or .rsi 3F 'SUE

;U NOT Etap-ll thEN check tine belov

;E’lSE save sateen address
■ step scree" address up a line
;Pu 5 * nasit and address on user stack
Restore old address

J let tap=fc

;S 3 m- s screen sdsress
:Stec screen address down a hne
-Gel cotours of pise Is below curre-: p’xe.
Restore old scree* address
';Lt1 MTESTU0, t D

TlU^otto-i lit 'tes S _coLour=hiClcgr DW nd_coLour THEN check bottom

SET 0,9
jr (sove.lift

, che cl button

jfi Z,ndye reft
PUSH HL

{ALL Lini-don-r
CALL pash n-spr
POP HL
RES M

.nOve.left
R LC C
jft NX,nil
DEC HL
.$11
BIT 7,C
JR NZ,nl2
RLCA

+ nL2
It SE/4

,nL3
ft RCA
ft RCA
RL D
D-EC E
JP !U,nl3

LC M
SRC A
R.RCA
ADC 6,E
RfiCA
SBC A,A
AND 6

m D

iELSE LET tJOttO®= 1

-and skic Over cade Tar first IF TRUt

; IF N£T (bottom 3 U
;THEN move cursor left

;ElSE save Siteen address
■5tep screen address dovr a line
;P,sh iiask a-.d address on cse* stack
■llestore old asdress
;LET bet ton-2

;«Ove reft by 1 pixel

;Left or right piieiT

;If left, we wart bits 1,5,3,?

;Else n o v t 0,4‘,£,4 to S, 3 f 3,7

,Next block of core identical to decode above

CP 7
RET NC
iP tflli Lei

evendl
iP whilei

.wend 1
RET

. push-User
PjSH HL
PUSH IY
POP HL

;Ehetk if exit caused by hitting a cue! in the stix
;Return with carry c.ear if found it's
rLoop bacc as pe-- mrwl WHILE construction

;Come here when UHILE3 cond-fions are FALSE
;E,se Loop bilk as per nornal WHILE construction

herE nner- WH2LE1 Condi t-s-cs arj false
, C 3 r r y ,s set to flag stii not f o., nd so ‘ust qui t

f r Save HL

;topy user s-1ac;■ pointer to NL

iT’-^p.F >iul\ p-pinter IQ ML

LD Df,srack+254-3 sure rodn for three bytes on ^6-Jjyte ,ser sock

OR A

S0C HL,frE
POP HL
PET HC

iHL ft
LD

INC 2>-
E.D (n+0.S,L
inc n
LD f JT + 01 H h
RET

. line..up

? Claar the carr; r
;Do a -4-bit conpare
; Restore -HL

;Qvif if no rap* on suck

;EL$£ PjSH j-ask on user stack

; and PUSH screen audrEss on us*"- s:^fk

} Step screen address up a line

LD DE,HSW
OP K

SEIC Hi,DE
SET ?J ^
SET 6,H

SET NC

LD DE M

SBC H1,K

RET

;0ne screen line offset
;CLebr the carry

;Sies up one line out as it street! , sd r ess „ l0 „ ef 1t ,

;B*set adbrejt to top Ms eitheut alterinj 'lags
,Nu fl*ans adsfress OK “

w*V“ (b “' JjU iUc ' fir tht st: “"’- 1

.Tine.donn

f Slf P screen iddress down a *.ine

;MsuaL ' Ji:re f n line doue' code

AWU Hi., Dt

RET NC

id n,um

AOD H'L f tE
PET

. le^t

; Step Left 3 p-*-.

RL- C ;Po*3te oixel n^sk left

*[I J : 'T! ns : * rr> ' i(iil j " byt.

* !llT h r<ln l,ft Ei<fL in «"• « in. right

,p11,1 ,B tS4 o r «“-ojs by:,, so j t!(ls jddrtJS

. r ■ 3 h f
^ h * “ » - - - *■
; Step right a pixel

RPC C ^Rotate pixel ,Task ri□ ht
r E J. H u \ ;[ £ f , ,10 e3rr :^ still i' ia,. s 5crfe n byte
if rL <t!«« »OWJ froi right p „■ - 0Pt ny; . tc lh( t(ft
gOiAel. in the ne K [ byte, so ncrpftent the address

Anns User February W&8

Page 81

PROGh

lAM Mth

JMBWI

■

.gr a_tfl 5 1 relative

; Entry; PE - address Of reLeounne
; hL - screen address

; C - fiask eDr pixel

; Exit; A - ink for selected pixel in fryte
; PE corrupt

; c = r.eu nasic

hL ' new screen address

CALL JPDE ;EsecUtt relative home routine in DE

LC A,(HL) ;0ei screen oyte

BIT T,C ; left hard pixel?

jjj NZ,gtri ;Skip : t yes, *e ^ant bits 1,5,V

RLCA ;E1 5 e none bits B,A,2/4 to

.gtrl
L5 PE,4

;Re$t si code -s sane as routine is hndstix

.otr?

RRC A

R1 D
PEC E

JP Ul.gcu

it M
J! RCA
RUvfl
ADC A,I
RRCA
S0C A,A
AND 6

m o

RET ;Ret j rn -ith encodes ink in A

.gra-plot absolute

; Entry; A - encoded ink to piot v 1 1h
; HI - screen address

; t - ?rask. (Of pixel

; Exit; AF ant 8 corrupted

,neh EC.p

h'flSO 0

.pan

BYTE 0

.trail

BYTE 6

,olD C k 1 Lag

BYTf e

.block.done

BYTE 0

.player.neve

xORO $

,iip

BYTE 0

. re L rojline

MQR Ii 0

.:hk routine

AORU 0

■ 1 ’■sixes

BYTE 0

.seconds

STYE 0

.percent

BYTE 0

.startTL

WORD 0

.start c

WORD 0

.score

SHE* 3

.lives

BYTE 0

.y.sti i

WORD 0

.X St’X

WORD 0

.y.«el

BYTE &

.i.vel

BYTE 0

.s tix pic

WORD 0

. s t’x add r

WW 3

.pixels

St T E 0

; Va lues to

vhi;h the above variables shoulo be initieliied

• ORD S£7Jij

& 3 AAA
UORp 0
MR& £

BHE &c£

0>te see

5 Hf 3

eni 0
wORC pnouei
BYTE 0
WQRP rgt,}^
"OfiC 1 res: ,^dd
BYTE 5?

SHE S3 0

STIF

vm &E 7 AS

*0RD I00AA

;HL_player

;C.Dljyer
;ne H ULp
; net, C,p

iEM® f? iour (initijU> - k 'i

; block flag
,-block.done f l.aci
;player flovfflrnt rout Me

;dip

F r reLrout.ine
;ehk routine
; f ranE s
;setcnd$

;perc*nr

;sta^t„HL

; S' 13 r [ c

RHEAC 5
bi:e 9
WDM p
m c 0
BYTE D
byte i

;s co re
i l i v#i
;y.stix
;* sti*
m f Y-v*i
; a. v e l

W jtil.pitl sti , pft (5r t

-iOx.iddr
d rE «' pixels

■ sti x.pid

Bn' m‘i» '?! r .‘! s Mi,tv f

d,E S 41 r i 03 ,t 00 ^^^ 0 5 ju fi J(7 £Sj

till «! j J! 5#8cb '* 0 ^ ^aumU^

■sfix pic?

?"' E 50 M 41 ,t 4 S,WS J Sfl^,( 4 S ( 4 ? tte

f VTf

BT ■- Sfl 3 , 6 . 0 F,i 0 ?,( 4 S^^^ w ^ W 2 # M 1 A

- screen

' E,T l?, 31 ,!,i/stO(Es-, 13 , 11 ,ja ( LIVES:

T t i n e r
IF3TT 30,0

► in Is

/ '6 pairs of :nk colours

" “.".n, .1.2,2. e,», 0,a/i»;i

-stack

"" f " 2it ;istf 5[ «k for fill stif , po;nti

l» 3 ,*

LD A,{*iL3
KQR 0
flfl C
ADR C
XOf? £

ID (ML),A
SET

r$tvt encoded ml in b
;5et screen byte
; f0R frith enco-jad ink

; i« D scri,r ‘ * t0 in *' gti '' rs »"“»»»«

;3"d exit

; Actual gatie variables

.rseed BYTf Uk

.HLpUyer tfdRC 0
.£ Player HDfiS 0

-ne-h_HU_p mt> b

Page 62

Am$trad User February 7S0S

EXCLUSIVE

READER

These two exciting compilations bring together the
very best games listings which have helped to make
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magazine in the country.

And we've kept the price right down to thank you
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r a : d Ki-SStaST-"** levels game

A colourful last act hiahlv-praised senes

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l E | ec , r i c Eddy, Galaxians' Revenge, Trench
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Frootee,' ' ‘ °' d ' Cr ^ler (6128 only) a „ d

A(l games work on Amstrad CPC 464, CPC
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otherwise. You can list and adapt all the
Basic files - an excellent way to improve
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To order
please use
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The Amstrad Computer
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Only £4.95.

Bundle 1; January 1986 to June 1986.

This contains a map of The Devil's Crown, pokes for Sorcery
Plus, how to use the CPC's fourth mode and a shaded dump
for DMP 2000 printers. Software reviews include: Brainstorm,
the ideas processor; GAC, the adventure system; Laser
Basic, the games writing aid and Rainbird's Music System.
Among the hardware reviewed in this bundle is dk'Tronic's
ram add-on, various serial interfaces, joysticks and a Teletext
adapter. Gamesters will value the maps of Herbert's Dummy
Run r Batman and Get Dexter. Programmers will learn from a
collection of articles, including advice on music and the 6845
VDP.

Bundle 2: July 1986 to December 1986.

Articles include an exhaustive review of assemblers and art
packages, the first full review of the PCI 512, plus reviews of
joysticks, printers and the Electro-Mu sic Research Midi
interface. Those readers who often find themselves clutching
a sweaty joystick will appreciate the articles on flight and
fight games, the Equinox map and the hints on Spindizzy.
Programmers can type in programs like ZX Loader, Battle of
the Cars, Interceptor and Double Trouble. And if you want to
know who does what then there are interviews with Palace,
Activision, Mastertronic and the sadly demised Mikro Gen. A
bundle of fun*

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PC 1512 keyboard and monitor set*.,.....£9.90

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Bock issues

1987 — ii'imiory: J ai 3 br£ 3 k , $ ta rg i de r ,
Model Universe reviewed, PC games, Amor
interview, Frost Byte mapped, Crawler listing,
Multi coloured CPC.

February:; PC Programming, PCW Pretext,
CPC Listings. Top Gun'and Gauntlet
reviewed. The Secret of the Red Boxes plus
all the regulars.

March: Nemesis preview, Music Machine -
the ultimate Sound per p^eraL Making (he
most of Protect, Machine Code manipulation,
Elite Disc hack, background print spooler and
US Gold interview.

April; Computer Journey - what makes your
Arnold tick, She Men from Micropros-e,
Amstrad BS232 reviewed. Sentinel from
Firebird, back-up reminder program
May: Am bu g Build it yourself robot, Empi re
review, Ait Studio from Rsinbird, PI Limber-
droid Lifting, Plan It, the house finance
organiser.

June: Rgnarama from H^wson, smooth
screen scrolling, Head over nee Is mega map.
Maxam II, Motor racing games, Citizen MSP
printer, Machine code triangles.

July: Mission Genocide exclusive preview.
Computer Journey 1 1, what makes your discs

drive. Amstrad Vs Star wide printers.
DK'Tromcs battery beck eel up clock. Hewson
interview. Parrotry art package.

August: Starfox preview, CPC Ihrough the
crystal bell, how to program, Ultramon and
Devpac machine code reviews, machine code
breakout and Cheetah midi keyboard
September; Living Daylights (the game of
Tho film), a look at Amster's Cage, the HFP
home finance for CP/M+ Looking at roms,
how to de-bug programs, plus a look at CPC
areas on bulletin boards.

October: Solomon's Key - guide to the
ghouls, Pro"ext and Tes-Sign advice. Firebird
who's who and why. Amor C review.
Precision's super fast printer and the Cage
Page view from Micronet.

November: Amstrad LQ350D 24 pin prmter-
Fu- review, RoDos the disc, drive's friend.
Gryzor preview, Using maaterfile. ACU
survey report.

December: Nigel Mansell's Grand PriK
previewed, Place Software interviewed Part
one of Jeff Walker's Basic Tutor. Mode Con¬
version routine, windows from assembler
Reviews of Survivor, Catch ?3 aod the truly
thought provoking Armageddon man.

19SS — January; Trantor - map and play
guide, Basic tutor on defined functions,,
typing tutor listing, Cherry Psiot review. 32
line screen mode.

Amstrad User February 1988

Page 64

Bargain bundles

r diets subject to
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Bach bundle costs £4.95 each , a
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Back numbers

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1 987-

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1999

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Amstrad User February 1988

THE AMSTRAD
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INDEX

Advantage.. ,

Amsoft. . .. ,

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Analytical Engineering..

Arc Education...

Amor Ltd.....

Astrocalc.

BSD Dust Covers.. . .

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Cheetah Marketing,...,..

Citizen... ,

Compumart...

.. 67

Corn soft.....

Connect Systems....

Cyca..

Database Flectronics .....

Dynamics.,,.....

E&J Software.

HSV Computer Services.

Jackson Computers.. .

LCL Educational Software.

Matmqs.„,....

Meridian Software...

MicroLink........

Micronet 800. . .....

.49

Micro wise...

.. 66

MJC Supplies.,..

Nemesis,.-,.....

Number One Systems...

.42

0 J. Soft ware...

Paul Srook..... .

Red Connections...

.24

Romantic Robot..

.. 8

School Software..

.24

Selec Software....

.55

Siren Software ..

Star Micromcs ....

Tactical Software........

.60

Tasman Software....

....30,31

TMC - Al Tufchaim...

Treasure Island....

The

truth

about

TELEX

§-/o vv much docs It co

to ao on Te/CX 7 Te|el mSChi ne The cheapest wH

Telex is just one of a 9™"' 9 the news as it happens, 9 r j a ht round the

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Pjge 66

Amstrsd User February W88

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" Box mode - cut and paste any rectangle to create newspaper columns *
"You Hi have a set-up that can thrash any 8-bit word processor for
speed*,.and even some 16-bit programs for power" pcw
rom: £34.95

UTOPIA

50 new commands available without having to bad a program, including:

* Text screen dump * Graphics screen dump to Epson compatible printer *

" disc utilities - disc format and copy, copy files, sector editor *

* useful function keys automatically set up; easily define your own *

* BASIC programming utilities * ROM management commands *

"UTOPIA is by far the best utilities rom... it'$ worth buying
a rom board just to plug it in* AMSCLUB

"Utopia seems to be in a class of its own' r AMTIX
rom: £29,95

ROMBO

All rom software requires a rom expansion system- fts benefits Include zero
loading time and maximum memory available for text, data, programs etc.
Remember; Utopia and the extra commands of Promerge Plus are not
available on disc. Fits CP0464 J | '664,6123,

5 socket rom box: £34.95

CPC 464/664,6128

MAXAM

The classic Assembler/Monitor/Editor for developing Z80 machine code.

* Plain English error messages ■ Disassembler * Memory editor *

* Menu driven full screen editor * load/merge/save/prlnt/flnd/replace *

* Mix BASIC and 1 machine code * or assemble directly from editor *

* Use the editor to edit BASIC programs saved in ASCII *

"This piece of software should be held up as an example of what
can be done by programmers who care buy one nowT E & C
rom: £39.95, disc: £26.95, cassette: £19.95

BCPL

Flexible, fast, general purpose programming language.

Comprehensive I/O libraries including graphics and sound.

Example source flies supplied, including a space invaders game, full screen
editor and all the libraries. 60 page manual covers the language and gives
details of the libraries.

''Designed for humans, not computers" CWTA
disc: £39.95 (Includesfrae rom)

MODEL UNIVERSE

Create and print your own designs in three dimensions. Zoom into your
object, rotate it through 360 degrees or view from any angle or perspective
"An ideal introduction to the world of 3D graphics" CWTA

disc: £19.95, cassette: £15.95

C f6i£s,CP/M+)

Integrated C programming system, Full implementation of K&Rstandard,

* Floating point *32 and 16 bit arithmetic * Optimising compiler *

* Linker * I/O and maths libraries * Conditional compilation * Macros *

* Editor is program mode of Protext *

Tn typical Amor fashion f they've taken their time and got it right” AU

disc: £49,95

MAXAM II (61 £6,CP/M+)

Enhanced version of Maxam for CP/M + . Extras include:

* Single stepping * conditional breakpoints * symbolic debugger *

* Editor is program mode of Pretext * Macro assembler *

"Now the best gets even better" CWTA CPC
"Maxam II - others nil" AU

disc: £49.95

POCKET PROTEXT (6120, CP/M +)

An enhanced version of CPC Pretext running under CP/M+ with:

* unlimited file size * foreign languages, accents on any letter *

* micro spacing to give equai spacing between words *two file editing *

* proportional printing with right justification *disc utilities *

"Deserves to be the system by which ail other WFs are judged" YC
disc: £39-95

PROTEXT (6128.CP/M+)

Combines all the features of Pocket Protext, Promsrga Plus and Pro-spell into
one program. German program and dictionary also available (ProwortJ.
Protext is also available for IBM PC compatibles including Amstrad PC 1512/
PCI640 at the same price.

"Protext is just so fast and versatile once you have used it - it is
like putting Nigel Mansell against a C5" FYATW

disc: £59.95

Releasing your Amstrad's potential

Amor, Pretext House, Ws/nmon Hoeoj Peterborough PE2 0BU

All prices include VAT, postage and packing. 24 hour Acoess/Vlsa, f0P$$f 2&SQ1t MOW

tWW

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